The Dark King's Apprentice
by Chrisfragger
Summary: While vacationing in East Blue, the 'Dark King' Silvers Rayleigh has a chance meeting with a small boy named Monkey D. Luffy in a bar. Luffy says something that piques the Dark Kings interest and Rayleigh decides to take the boy on as his first and last apprentice. No Harem. Slightly A/U. Luffy did not meet Ace/Sabo. Strong Luffy. Slightly more intelligent Luffy.
1. Chapter 1

Eiichiro Oda and Toei Animation Studios own One Piece Manga/Anime respectively. I'm honestly glad I don't own them. I am no match for Oda's greatness.

The Dark King's Apprentice

* * *

This story will be minor AU. Luffy will not know Ace or Sabo in this fic. For the most part though it will closely follow canon. Luffy will be very strong In this fic. He will also be more serious, being as well trained as he is. I will try to keep him reasonably within character though. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

Somewhere in East Blue. An old man with white hair reaching his shoulders, as well as a bushy goatee. He had vertical scar across his left eye. He was wearing round wire-frame glasses, an orange shirt, tan shorts with black spots all over them, and sandals. He also has a sword on his side.

He is currently resting in a small boat. Looking like an easy target for the many threats that inhabit these dangerous waters, from pirates to sea kings. But should anyone or anything attack this seemingly harmless old man they would likely find themselves dead in a matter of seconds. This old man is none-other than the legendary Dark King, Silvers Rayleigh. The first mate of the even more infamous Gold Roger, The Pirate King. Rayleigh is one of the last few remaining members of that once powerful pirate crew. Rayleigh had decided to take a vacation from coating ships in Sabaody Archipelago. He also wanted a breather from his friend Shakky who owns the bar he rooms at.

* * *

Three hours later, Rayleigh's boat had jerked suddenly and Rayleigh opened his eyes, looking around he observed that his boat had taken him to an island. He disembarked his boat and walked to the nearest dock worker he could find to ask where he had ended up.

"Excuse me, my fine gentleman. Might I ask you a question? Where is this town? I had fallen asleep in my boat and it took me here of it's own accord." Rayleigh asked, a kind smile on this face the entire time. The man looked at him oddly _'Who falls asleep on a boat and lets it go where it will? That is not safe!'_

"Well sir, you're docked in Foosha Village, in the Goa Kingdom. I hope that helps you, I have to get back to work. Good Day." The man said, as he left to return to his duties. Rayleigh waved the man off.

"Thanks a lot, that's all I needed to know." He continued walking through the town, enjoying its peace and quiet. What he really wanted right now was a nice drink. He found a little bar called "Party's Bar". He walked in and took a seat at the bar, waiting for the waitress to come and offer him a drink, the waitress walked up to him with a mug in her hand.

"How can I help you sir? Would you like a drink, food, or both?" The woman asked. She was a pretty young woman, with greenish hair, orange checkered shirt with black sleeves as well as bandanna in her hair.

"I'll have a mug of ale, thank you my fine young lady." Rayleigh thanked her. Makino blushed a little at the praise from such a handsome older man.

"Oh I'm sorry, where are my manners? My name is Makino, and I own this bar." She answered his unspoken question.

As soon as she finished that statement a young boy of about six years old jumped up on the bar and pointed his finger into Rayleigh's face. "You better not be hitting on Makino-chan! She's too good for you, Old Man!" The boy accused. Rayleigh looked at the boy, then the finger inches from his face, then at Makino who had an apologetic yet slightly embarrassed look on her face.

"HAHAHAHA! Don't worry my boy. I'm too old for your friend here, I just get overly friendly some times." Rayleigh said trying to ease the small child's suspicions. The boy nodded and got back into his seat and went back to drinking his juice.

"You better not! I have my eye on you!" Luffy said. Glaring at the old man one more time for emphasis.

The boy was average height for a child of his apparent age, he had black hair, and black eyes. Wearing a white shirt with the image and word Anchor on it. As well as some blue knee-length shorts. He seemed to be very friendly with the bartender here.

"You know kid. It takes a lot of courage to do what you did to someone like me. What's your name kid?" Rayleigh asked.

"Me? I'm Monkey D. Luffy! I'm gonna be Pirate King!" Luffy said. Stating his ambition and dream with absolutely zero inhibitions. He did not care if this old man laughed. He'd make it, or he'd die trying and he would be happy with it either way. Stroking his beard Rayleigh looked into the boys eyes and asked.

"Do you think you can do it? There are dangers out there in those seas you couldn't imagine, not even in your worst nightmares. Do you think you can conquer those seas?" Rayleigh asked, patiently waited for the boy to answer.

"Conquer? I don't want to conquer anything old man! I just believe that the Pirate King has the most freedom on the seas!" Luffy said, smiling like an idiot the whole time. Rayleigh was honestly surprised. He could almost see his old captain standing behind the boy with his hand on his shoulder. Rayleigh knew what he had to do. He had to take this boy under his wing, help him reach his ambition.

"You know Luffy. I think you can do it. You've impressed this old man. That is not an easy thing to do, let me tell you." Rayleigh said as he put his hands on the boys shoulder. "How would you like to sail the seas with me and learn the ways of the pirate? I'll teach you everything you need to know and then some! You will be a powerful man when I am done with you." Rayleigh asked, giving Luffy time to consider.

"Hey! Hold on a minute here! Just who are you? I don't think the boys Grandfather would like you just up and taking Luffy away!" Makino shouted. Causing the few heads in the bar to look their way.

"Hmm..." Rayleigh stroked his beard in thought. "His grandfather is Monkey D. Garp yes?" Makino nodded. "I figured they were related when the boy told me his name. I don't have to worry about him. I know how to evade that man. You don't have to worry either, Makino-san. I just want to help the boy survive to reach his dream. How about it Luffy, you want to go?" Rayleigh asked Luffy again.

Luffy looked from Rayleigh to Makino then sat up and said "I'm sorry Makino-chan, you know it's my dream to become a strong pirate! He can help me! I gotta go!"

Makino sighed. She knew she couldn't change the boys mind when it was set, and she knew she couldn't physically stop this man from taking Luffy away. She doubted anyone here could. He seemed to have an aura about him that screamed power. And she did not want to test his patience.

"I suppose I have no choice. I can't win when Luffy has his mind set on something. You better keep him safe old man! You hear me?" Makino said, she knew it was a threat as empty as Rayleigh's current mug of ale.

"Don't worry Makino-san, I will protect him as if her were my own blood. This I swear to you" Rayleigh promised.

"Ready to go Luffy? We can leave shortly. I just need to buy a bigger boat and supplies for the voyage." Rayleigh said, leading Luffy out the door. Luffy turned and waved goodbye to Makino the last time. Makino waved back forcing a smile on her face. She would have to tell Garp about this, she thought to herself as she wiped her tears away.

* * *

Rayleigh led Luffy to the docks where he found a fishmonger and boat salesmen and bought a nice fishing boat that could easily support them. He bought some food and water that would last them a few weeks. Then he and Luffy boarded the boat and Rayleigh started rowing out to sea when he sensed a rather large life form approaching the boat. He turned around and seen a large eel-like sea king glaring at them hungrily.

"It's the Lord of the Coast old man! We're gonna die!" Luffy was panicking. He had seen this creature end many a peoples adventures and lives.

"Is that any way for the future Pirate King to act Luffy?" Rayleigh asked. He could understand though. This had to be frightening to a child of his age. "Don't worry, I will take care of it." Rayleigh said with an air of finality.

Rayleigh stood up and locked eyes with the beast as it was about to attack it suddenly felt an incredible sense of impending doom. Its pupils dilated and it dived back into the water with a haste Luffy had never before seen in the monster.

"What did you do old man? How did you make it run away? I've never seen it so scared in ever!" Luffy asked, excitedly. Rayleigh sat back down and grabbed the oars and began rowing away from the coast again.

"That my boy, is just one of many things I will be teaching you as my apprentice. So just relax, it's going to take us a while to get to where we're going." Rayleigh said.

* * *

Two long arduous months at sea, only stopping when absolutely necessary for supplies. They finally seen their destination on the horizon. A small relatively safe island in the new world. This island lies in Red Haired Shanks turf, a '**Yonko**', that was almost like family to Rayleigh. So there should be no problems with him and his apprentice camping out here for the foreseeable future. The island was probably about 5 miles in diameter, the weather was relatively stable by New World standards.

The boat had finally beached and they both disembarked feeling grateful to finally be on solid land. Rayleigh ordered Luffy to pull the boat as far onto land as he could. Luffy nodded and grabbed hold pulling as hard as he could, making it surprising far up the beach. Rayleigh had made it crystal clear to Luffy that when he gave an order it was to be followed, that is if he wanted to be taught. So Luffy decided it was in his best interest to obey his commands.

Rayleigh watched, _'The boy has good strength for a child of his age. I will turn that into monstrous power given enough time and dedication.'_ Rayleigh thought to himself.

* * *

At about the same time that Rayleigh and Luffy had set foot on their Island.

A large Marine boat was mooring in Foosha Village. When it was finally docked, a large man with a Vice Admiral's marine coat with the word "Justice" emblazoned on the back. He had short cut gray hair and matching goatee. He had a visible scar down the left side of his face. He walked through town, nodding or waving at the locals. He found the place he was headed to and entered Makino's "Party's Bar" taking a seat in front of the bar he called her over.

"Makino-chan! How are you doing! Where's my grandson hiding now?" Garp asked.

Makino gave a soft sob as she ran over to Garp. "I'm so sorry Garp-san! I couldn't stop him! The man took Luffy away two months ago! But I had no way to contact you, so Luffy could be anywhere!" Maniko was nearly in tears. Both at loosing Luffy and fearful of Garp's anger.

Garp had frozen. He couldn't even begin to believe what he just heard. _'Luffy has been kidnapped? Who would do it? Who even know who Luffy was? Two months ago?! What the hell have I been doing all this time!?'_ Garp was seething in rage, his teeth grinding, the mug in his hand exploding under the undue pressure of Garp's cannonball crushing grip. Makino was backing away, fearing the worst.

Garp spotted this and attempted to calm himself down. "I'm sorry Makino-chan, this isn't your fault. If it was someone after Luffy, then I doubt you could have done anything. I should have given you a Den-Den Mushi to contact me in case something like this happened... Can you at least tell me what this man who took Luffy looked like?" Makino nodded. Five minutes later, Garp was back on his boat. They were heading back to Marinford. The military headquarters of the Marines. One of the most powerful and secure buildings in all the world.

* * *

Fleet Admiral Sengoku, also known as Sengoku "The Buddha". His had a black afro under his hat, which curiously had a statue of a seagull, the symbol of the marines. A thin black mustache, and a tightly braided beard that hung down to his waist.

The man was busy fighting the greatest foe of any powerful leader. Who is this foe you ask? Is it Whitebeard? No? Is it Kaidou? No... It's.. Paperwork! The eternal undying foe of any great leader. Sengoku looked up from his paperwork sensing Garp storming to his office. The next moment his door was blown to splinters by an extremely angry Garp.

"Garp. What is what is it now? Can't you see I'm busy?" Sengoku sighed in frustration. Garp was always so emotional.

"This is no goddamn joke! I'm not here to mess around, Sengoku! I need your help on a personal issue!" Garp shouted slamming his fist into Sengoku's desk cracking the fine wood.

"What's wrong Garp? It seems important if you're this upset, and actually want help on a personal issue." Sengoku asked, giving Garp his full attention.

"My grandson, Luffy. He's been kidnapped... By the Dark King. That's what my damned problem is!" Garp growled at Sengoku. Sengoku's eyes widened in shocked.

"This is bad indeed. How did Rayleigh even learn about your grandson? I mean it's not exactly common knowledge where you had him hidden?"

"I don't know, but it happened two months ago. What can I do at this point?" Garp asked, sliding down into his seat. The stress finally getting to him.

"I guess I could order CP-9 to look into it, they may be able to find him. But you know as well as I that they could never take him back from someone like Rayleigh." Sengoku offered.

"NO! No way! You keep that assassin squad away from my grandson. They would be more likely to kill him then they would be to save him. That Lucci guy especially. He's broken. He kills innocent people as easily as he kills criminals. And you wonder why my son does what he does." Garp said, adamantly.

"AH Don't get me started on that bastard son of yours! He and his army took another island in South Blue last week."

* * *

Back with the protagonist.

A few hours landing. The sun was just reaching high noon and the two had finished eating their lunch. A nice meal consisting of cooked wild boar.

"Luffy. Now that you have had a good filling meal I want to start your training. You showed good strength from what I can tell, seeing how far you pulled that boat up. That was not an easy task for one so young." Rayleigh complimented the boy, Luffy smiled a radiant smile.

"I'm going to start with physical training since you are too young to actually learn any of the more advanced skills I have to teach you. Understand?" Rayleigh asked. He wanted to make sure Luffy understands everything he teaches him before moving on with the next thing on the list.

"Sure old man! I need to be stronger to learn your cool powers!" Luffy answered the question. Rayleigh nodded with a bright smile on his face.

"Yes, You're exactly right my boy. So we are going to start with endurance training. Get to running around this island. I want to see how long you can run before you have to stop." Rayleigh ordered. Luffy nodded and began running. Luffy ran for roughly two hours before having to stop and rest. Rayleigh nodded, it was a good starting point. After a short rest Rayleigh stood up.

"How do you feel, are you too tired to continue training Luffy? Do you need water?" Rayleigh asked.

"No way, old man, I can go on. But water would be nice please!" Rayleigh handed him a glass of water and he gulped it down. "Ok, enough playing around Luffy. I want you to give me one hundred reps of each of these exercises. Push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, pull-ups." Rayleigh showed him to a good tree branch for the pull-ups. "I also want you to punch and kick this tree one hundred times each. Understood?" Rayleigh asked. Luffy nodded.

* * *

A year has passed since Luffy started training with Rayleigh. Luffy is now seven years old and looks like a boy three or four years older. Lean, strong. His fists calloused and tough. Luffy was becoming self sufficient so Rayleigh allowed him to hunt his own food more often. It was good practice for when he was out on his own.

Rayleigh was standing on beach watching the ocean, when he seen a large red and gold boat. It had a large Jolly Roger across its front sail. A skull with a red eye patch over its left eye. And two crossed sabers.

* * *

"What are we doing captain? This Islands deserted. Why the sudden interest in this Island?" Benn Beckmann asked his captain.

Benn Beckmann is the first mate of the Yonko, Red Haired Shanks. Second in command of the Red Force and her crew. He has shoulder length black hair worn in a pony tail. Wears a black shirt with green pants, and a yellow sash around his waist. Has a long rifle on his waist as if it were a sword.

"If you look closely, you can see a boat there, I'm just curious who's calling one of our islands home. That is all. If they're not here to cause trouble they can stay, hell we may even party with them!" Shanks answered. Benn nodded his understanding.

Shanks is a tall man of moderate build. He has short red hair as is his namesake. Three vertical claw marks going over his left eye. And a light goatee. He's wearing a loose fitting white button up shirt only half buttoned, purple calf-length shorts, a red sash and a long black captains coat. He also has a relatively plain looking saber on his hip.

"Let's go Benn." Benn nodded. "Hey! Yasopp, Lucky! We're going ashore!" Shanks shouted. He received a chorus of "Aye Captain" and "Hooray!" as the selected men and Shanks piled into the small landing boat. About ten minutes later they were beaching their boat. Shanks got serious as he looked into the tree line and called out.

"I know you're there, there is no use in hiding from us. Show yourself now." Shanks called out hand resting on his saber's handle. Shanks may be a relatively calm and friendly guy, but until he was sure this person was not a threat he was going to be serious.

"I think you're a hundred years too early to be threatening me, Shanks!" Rayleigh stepped out of the tree line, casually walking with his hands in his pockets, approaching his old crews cabin boy.

Shanks and his crew's jaws dropped. His crew shocked to see the legendary figure on one of their islands. They knew he generally stayed at Sabaody coating ships. Shanks was nervous, he just threatened his old disciplinarian. He lost count all the time this man beat the shit out of him for some mistake or other when he was a kid.

"I'm sorry! Rayleigh-san I didn't know it was you I swear!" Shanks shouted. His crew backing away from him in case Rayleigh wanted to punish him. Rayleigh's straight serious face quickly shifted into a smile as he started laughing at Shanks. "Haha, my boy you haven't changed since I last saw you!"

"Well Rayleigh. The reason were here, we just wanted to see who was on the island. Since it's you I'm fine with it. But we are kind of curious as to why you are here, not that it matters. You don't have to tell us." Shanks asked. Making sure to be respectful, he wasn't sure if he could take this man. Not that he wanted to fight the 'Dark King' in the first place.

"I picked up something interesting I found in East Blue. A kid, he said some interesting things. So I decided to kidnap him and make him my apprentice. He's working out well so far. You wouldn't believe who he is related to, haha." Rayleigh said.

"I'm afraid to ask... Who is he related to?" Shanks asked. Rayleigh would not bring it up if he did not at least half expect them to ask the question.

"Hmm... The kids name is Monkey D. Luffy. I'll let you figure it out." Rayleigh answered in a vague way, as if testing the man.

Shanks and his crew only took a second to figure it out. I mean who hasn't heard of the most wanted man in the world... That goes double for Garp "The Fist". They just stood there flabbergasted for a moment. Rayleigh laughing at their shock uproariously.

Shanks came out of his shock and laughed. "Dahahaha. You know how to pick 'em don't you Rayleigh-san? How about we throw a party on the Red Force. It'll be fun, I'm sure the rest of the crew would love to meet Luffy." Rayleigh did not even need to consider it. _'This is exactly what Luffy needs. He's been training hard for a year. A little rest is good for the spirit.'_

"Sure, I think Luffy would like that a lot. Just don't tell him about his father. He knows about his grandfather but lets not talk about that either. I'll go collect my protege. See you on your ship soon." Rayleigh said as he walked back into the tree line.

* * *

A grand party was being held on the Red Force, pirates getting drunk and gorging on food. People dancing and generally having a great time. Luffy was telling some people about his training. They would tell him some of their adventures. Yasopp in particular would tell him about his son he had to leave behind in East Blue. Luffy promised that when he started building his crew he would make sure to head to Syrup Village and try to recruit the boy. Yasopp couldn't even put into words how happy that made him.

Luffy decided to look around a little. He went to the bar, remembering Makino's place. He saw a weird looking purple fruit in a box on the bar. He heard his stomach growl at the sight, so he climbed up on the stool and took the fruit in hand, taking a large bite out of it. He immediately began gagging and trying to spit the vile tasting fruit out of his mouth.

"Gah! What is this! It tastes so bad?!" Luffy shouted, attracting the attention of several of the crew, including Shanks. Shanks ran up to Luffy and pulled the fruit away. Looking at it he sighed.

_'To late to do anything about it now. No need to cry over spilled milk so to speak'_ Shanks thought to himself. "It's alright, you'll be fine Luffy. Here have a drink." Shanks gave Luffy a glass of water. "You just ate a devil fruit. Do you know what devil fruits are?" Luffy shook his head in the negative. Rayleigh walked up to inform his student.

"It's a fruit that give you super human powers, but at the cost of being able to swim. Shanks, what fruit did my apprentice eat?" Shanks asked, glaring at the man for leaving a Devil Fruit out like that. Luffy was jumping up and down, shouting this and that about having super powers and how he was gonna be pirate king for sure now.

"It's the "**Gomu Gomu no Mi**" Rayleigh-san. We took off a crew we defeated after they thought it was a good idea to attack a Yonko's ship. Well it didn't work out so well for them. Sorry, we don't usually have kids on the ship, I kinda forgot it was there. We were simply going to sell it. So it's no real loss to us." Shanks said.

"Hmmm If I recall my fruit logic correctly, the Gomu Gomu no Mi should make Luffy highly resistant to blunt force trauma, that will help him greatly. This wasn't a disaster after all. I should be thanking for this blunder Shanks." Rayleigh said.

"Well Luffy, as long as you don't fall into the ocean or a large body of water, you should be fine. Though Kairoseki will always be a problem." Rayleigh sighed. _'This will help his future training, it is actually a great blessing.'_ Rayleigh thought.

* * *

Several days later. Luffy and Rayleigh were bidding their friends on the Red Force good bye. They had to head back out and patrol their section of the New World, and as much as they wanted to, they could not stay here forever.

Luffy ran to the landing boat and shouted loudly "I'm gonna be a better pirate than you, Shanks! The old man is making me strong! I'll go out and get a crew, and we will beat your crew to One Piece! I'm going to be Pirate King! Just you watch me!" Luffy caught his breath after that long tirade.

Shanks laughed, "Going to beat us, are you? You know kid. You just might!" He took his hat off his head, looked it it longingly before placing it on Luffy's head. "This hat is very important to me Luffy. I'm loaning it to you. You can return it to me when you are the Pirate King. OK?" Shanks smiled down at Luffy.

Luffy was crying his eyes out. His friend had just given him his precious hat, and told him he believed in him! This was one of the best days of his life. Luffy looked up to Shanks and nodded, he couldn't speak right now so he just nodded holding the hat tightly to his head. 'I'll never let this hat get hurt I swear it!' Luffy screamed in his own head.

* * *

"Well Luffy, now that shanks has left. I think it's high time we get back to your training. Do you agree?" Luffy knew it wasn't really a question but he answered "Hell Yeah!" Placing his hand protectively on his new hat. He wanted to get as strong as possible so he could protect his future nakama, and his hat when the time came.

"Ok then." Rayleigh pulled a strip of cloth out of his pocket. "We are going to work on unlocking your **Kenbunshoku Haki** this is also known as Observation Haki. It will allow you to see hidden enemies, and predict the next attack an enemy will likely throw at you. It is extremely useful in combat." Luffy was really excited about this mystery power.

"Ok! Old man what do I gotta do!?" He asked, excitedly. Rayleigh stepped up to Luffy and put the blindfold over his eyes. Luffy couldn't see a thing, no light at all traveled through the blindfold.

"Take a seat on the ground. Now I want you to relax your mind, ignore all the distractions and just remain calm. I know it's hard for you, as excitable as you are. But you must learn to do this if you are going to awaken your observation Haki." Rayleigh said. Luffy nodded and did his best to relax and open his mind to the world around him.

* * *

Two months have passed. Luffy was gradually getting better. He did not stop his physical training at all. He just did his Observation training at night a couple hours before bed. Recently he felt his first trigger of Observation Haki. Now we see Luffy once more blind folded and Rayleigh throwing small pebbles at him. Most if the time he would hit him. But Luffy was starting to evade the objects more regularly. It was a work in progress. But Rayleigh was happy with Luffy's progress.

* * *

Six months have passed and now Luffy was eight years old. Rayleigh had deemed his **Observation Haki** a suitable level to move on to his **Armament Haki**. So he called the boy over.

"Luffy, come here boy. It's time we moved on to the next phase of your training. The **Busoshoku Haki**, it is also called **Armament Haki**. With this ability you can coat any part of, or your entire body in an invisible armor. It will protect you from most damage, including your weakness to blades. It will also increase the damage output of your attacks. Be they fists, feet or weapon. There is one more key feature regarding this particular Haki." Luffy was giving Rayleigh his complete attention, when Rayleigh flicked him in the forehead. Knocking him to the ground where he rolled around crying in pain.

"What the hell old man! How did that hurt so bad! I'm rubber that shouldn't have hurt me!" Luffy shouted, angrily. Rayleigh just laughed at his pain.

"That's because I used a small amount of **Armament Haki** in my finger when I hit you. It bypassed your devil fruit power and effected you as if you were a normal human. This is the most important aspect of **Armament Haki**. It will allow your attacks to hurt devil fruit users as though they were normal humans. Understand?" Rayleigh asked.

"Yes I get it. Did you have to use it on me though! That hurt so bad..." Luffy wined. "You won't be forgetting it will you? Shut up you sound like a baby." Rayleigh chided.

"You are going to learn this ability by brute force. See this boulder?" Rayleigh was standing next to a rather large boulder. "Yeah! I see it old man, what you want me to do?" Luffy asked.

"Simple. I want you to start punching this rock until your fists are bloody and hurt too much to go on." Rayleigh instructed. Luffy nodded. And the pain began.

* * *

Five months have passed. Luffy never stopped his relentless training. Eventually Rayleigh had to make Luffy run laps with heavy rock tied to Luffy's back. He could run laps around the island all day and not get tired otherwise. Luffy did most of his exercises with this heavy rock tied to him. It yielded fantastic results.

It was shortly after the fifth month that Luffy was able to form a useful Haki shield around his fist, and when his fist collided with the boulder, well the boulder was no longer there...

Rayleigh patted Luffy on the shoulder and handed him a piece of meat. "Good work, I'm glad to see you finally got it. Let's take a break for now. You can relax for a few days and let your body recover." Rayleigh said. Luffy nodded, he did not want to stop but a short break sounded good to him.

* * *

Ten months have passed. Luffy is now nine years old. As his body matures it is allowing his muscles to grow at a faster rate. Rayleigh noticed that no matter how much muscle the boy gains his body does not grow bulkier. _'This must be another aspect of his rubbery body. It compresses his muscles to the highest form, keeping him slim and flexible. Yes, this is good. I don't think he will ever be too bulky to be fast.'_ Rayleigh thought.

"Luffy, get some rest. Tomorrow will be an important day for you." Rayleigh suggested. Luffy nodded and headed to his tent.

Rayleigh considered what he would do tomorrow. He might ruin their relationship. It will be brutal but it must be done to see if Luffy has it. Rayleigh decided to call it a night as well.

The next day, after Rayleigh and Luffy awoke. Luffy and Rayleigh were locked in a life and death spar. Well Life and Death for Luffy, no more than a light warm up for Rayleigh. Luffy's right arm was broken hanging limply at his side. His left eye swollen shut. Head bleeding from a scalp laceration. Luffy's vision was fading in and out. Rayleigh had him by the throat with one hand.

"Is this the best you got boy? All that time training you? And this is all you had to show for it? I've wasted my time! You are such a... Disappointment." Rayleigh was releasing small amounts of **Haoshoku Haki** hoping to spark something in the Luffy's psyche. "If this is truly the best you got then I guess I'll just end your adventure right now." Rayleigh began to squeeze on his throat harder, eyes locked on Luffy's

_'No! This can't be it! I refuse to lose! I gotta be Pirate King! I promised Shanks! I REFUSE TO GO DOWN!'_ "**LET GO OF ME NOW!**" Luffy unconsciously released an enormously potent wave of Conquerors Haki. It actually startled Rayleigh to a small extent. Not that it was stronger than his but still Luffy was young, his spirit had nigh unlimited potential for growth.

_'Amazing. That is stronger than some pirates sailing the New World could ever hope to produce. I know how to pick them indeed, Shanks. I think you go some competition in the future.'_ Rayleigh thought as he carried the boy back to camp. He had knocked himself out from over exertion.

* * *

Thank you for reading, if you wouldn't mind a review would be much appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

Eiichiro Oda and Toei Animation Studios own One Piece Manga/Anime respectively. I'm honestly glad I don't own them. I am no match for Oda's greatness.

**The Dark King****'s Apprentice**

*Thank you LaLunaLight, for being the first review on my new fic. Let's hope you are just the first of MANY. I really appreciate it!

* * *

_Last Chapter Recap_

'_No! This can't be it! I refuse to lose! I gotta be Pirate King! I promised Shanks! I REFUSE TO GO DOWN!' __**"LET GO OF ME NOW!" **__Luffy unconsciously released an enormously potent wave of Conquerors Haki. It actually startled Rayleigh to a small extent. Not that it was stronger than his but still Luffy was young, his spirit had nigh unlimited potential for growth._

* * *

Ten years have have passed since we last seen our rubbery protagonist. The training has been hard. It has been grueling. Sometimes he wondered if it was all worth it. But when he was finally able to get a shocked look out of Rayleigh during a spar two years ago. He realized it was indeed all worth it. Their relationship took a small hit after the 'spar' that helped awaken Luffy's **Conquerors Haki**. Rayleigh understood. He had to hurt Luffy, and put the fear of death into him, one of the best ways to unlock the rarest Haki.

But Luffy could never hold a grudge for long. Especially not on his beloved teacher, his Grandfather figure. Taking the place of Garp in his mind since he had not seen the man in many years. Rayleigh did not intend to do this, he had great respect for Garp. He was one of the rare good and honorable marines. But he had sensed a greatness in Luffy that just could not be ignored.

Rayleigh taught Luffy more than simply Haki and it's control. He had fought with many a marine in his life. He learned through observation, their most cherished and secret techniques. He taught these skills to Luffy as well.

First was, the **Soru**, which allows the user to move at great speeds for both attack and evasion. Luffy's rubbery body allowed him to excel at this technique taking it to new heights.

The second of the Rokushiki techniques he taught Luffy was known as the **Geppo** or Moonwalk. It allows the user to walk upon the air as if it were solid ground. Rayleigh knew this technique was handy in all kinds of situation. Not all involving combat. Sometimes jumping out of a woman's bedroom when her husband was coming home can be unpleasant. But this technique makes it so much easier.

The last technique of the Rokushiki that Rayleigh deemed useful to Luffy was the **Rankyaku**. This technique allows the user to kick the air with such force and speed that it flings an air blade. The air blade is capable of cutting stone and human as easily as butter when performed correctly.

There were many times when Shanks came back to see Rayleigh for something or other, or just to see Luffy, teach him a few things himself. Shortly before Luffy would turn seventeen Shanks visited for the last time. Giving Luffy a Saber that resembled his own blade. It was not a named sword mind you, but just a high quality blade that would help Luffy on his quest to be the Pirate King.

* * *

Roughly a month prior. "You have grown into a strong and good man Luffy. I am honored to have taught you what little I could in these twelve years. You soaked up what I taught you like a sponge. I could never find a better student again, if I tried. But I think I'm done teaching for a while. I'm gonna head back to Sabaody for now. Why don't we catch up when you and your crew are ready to sail the New World!" Rayleigh said, a lone tear sliding down his face.

Luffy was bowing before Rayleigh. "Thank you old man, I owe you everything! I can do what I need to do to protect my Nakama thanks to you, and Shanks as well. If you see him again, can you give him my thanks?" Luffy asked

Rayleigh smiled and nodded. No further words were needed as Rayleigh got into his own boat and rowed off towards Paradise.

* * *

Somewhere in East Blue. A young man with short black hair. He was wearing a red buttoned up vest, blue shorts with white cuffs at the bottom, and sandals. He has a sword on his side.

He is currently napping on his small one man boat. Looking like an easy target for any threats that roam these dangerous waters, from pirates to sea kings. But should anyone or anything attacked this seemingly harmless young man they would likely find themselves dead in a matter of seconds.

This young man is none-other than Monkey D. Luffy. Future Pirate King, former Apprentice to the "Dark King" Silvers Rayleigh. The first mate of the The Pirate King.

As Luffy drifted his boat bumped into the side of a large luxury cruise liner that was being sacked by pirates. Luffy's attention was piqued at this. He decided it might be fun to have a fight with actual hostile pirates. All those spars with Shanks and Rayleigh don't really count. Except that... One. Well he would never really forget that one he supposed.

Luffy jumped on to the deck of the pirate ship. He took in his surroundings. The ship was ugly as hell. Pink, with hearts everywhere. There was a giant ducks head for the figurehead. Finally, he spotted a man who was talking to a woman. He approached but stopped when the woman "Rang His Bells" so to speak. Being a rubber man meant it wouldn't hurt him, but even he had to cringe a little in sympathy pain. Luffy approached the woman.

The woman had short orange hair and was dressed in a white t-shirt with blue horizontal strips, similar to a marine shirt, and a short orange skirt that reaches somewhere short of the mid thigh and expensive looking high heels.

"Hey whats up with you? You aren't betraying your nakama are you?" Luffy asked. The woman nearly jumped out of her skin. She hesitantly turned around to see who was behind her. She found a young man slightly over five and a half feet tall. He did not look threatening at all though he did look strong.

"No! I'm not a pirate, I'm just robbing these guys while they're over there robbing the cruise ship! I'm Nami by the way. Who are you?" The woman asked.

"Oh, I'm Monkey D. Luffy. Future Pirate King! I guess I'll take some of this gold too, seeing as you can't carry it all." Luffy grabbed a couple handfuls of the gold. Nami sneered not liking the idea of a pirate this close to her, but would not risk insulting the man. Her line of work was dangerous enough, no need adding meaningless danger. So she simply nodded and went back to her own pilfering.

Luffy dropped his liberated loot into his boat. Just as he finished that he sensed the pirates all coming back to their boat. He also sensed that the woman had made her get away clean. Luffy turned around to face a whole pirate crew as angry as a kicked hornets nest.

"Who are you gaki! What are you doing on my boat, did I see you stealing my treasure!?" The heavy set captain shouted at Luffy. Luffy just shrugged at the question.

"Me? I'm Monkey D Luffy. Future Pirate King. Yeah, I robbed you. Why? You going to do something about it?" Luffy asked while giving them a cocky smile.

Alvida saw red. This punk had absolutely no respect for her, or her club. He would learn now. That or her name isn't Alvida, the sexiest woman in all the seas. "Men, who is the most beautiful woman in all the seas?" She asked, expecting them all to cower and give her the answers she loved to hear. "You Alvida-sama" were the usual.

"Certainly not you. I've seen beached whales that looked better than you!" Luffy said spitting on the ground at the thought of touching this sea cow. Alvida's fury boiled over. "Men! Kill that man, or I'll kill you!" She finally shouted.

Luffy laughed watching the pirates pull out their swords and or pistols getting ready fight. As the first ones approached Luffy weaved in and out of their attacks not even bothering to draw the blade Shanks gave him. It was not given to him to waste on losers that could hardly swing a sword. As he weaved in and out of the attacks he would punch or kick who ever was close. The number of men Alvida had that were still active was dropping quickly. Luffy seen a small boy cowering behind the main mast of the ship.

After Luffy finished the last pirate. He asked Alvida. "Hey hippo. Did you kidnap that pink haired kid over there?" Luffy hated actual kidnappers, he did not consider what Rayleigh did kidnapping since he willingly left. He also despised slavers worse than most anyone else. And this looked like both. Alvida growled in rage, both at the continuous insults this brat flung her way, and the fact that all of her men were face down unconscious or dead.

"So what if I did! I'm a pirate, I can take what ever I want, when ever I want!" Alvida yelled. She then turned to the boy. "Coby! Since you didn't help with attacking that man I'm gonna give you the CLUB!" Alvida decided to kill the lazy good for nothing slave before killing the punk that beat her crew up. Luffy was having none of it though, he used **Soru** to appear in front of petrified Coby. Luffy caught the spiked club in his hand, seeing as the spikes were far enough apart he did not have any risk to his own flesh, and the woman was so weak that he did not even need to reinforce his arm.

"I can't stand slavers!" Luffy said, clearly angry. Luffy held onto her club as Alvida tried desperately to pull it out of his grasp. Luffy threw his free hand back where it stretched several dozen yards. "W-W-What are you!?" Both Coby and Alvida asked at the same time. "I'm a rubber man! **Gomu Gomu no Pistol!**" Luffy's fist came forward faster than Alvida or Coby's eyes could track the movement. The fist found purchase in Alvida's abdomen and Alvida screamed in pain as she was launched out into the ocean.

"Hey Coby. You wanna come with me. We are about to have company soon!." Luffy asked. Coby paled significantly. He nodded quickly and followed Luffy to his boat. They high tailed it out of the vicinity just before the Marines came to investigate the attack.

* * *

Short time later. Coby tentatively raised his hand to gain Luffy's attention. Luffy looked at the boy and nodded. "Ahhh. I w-was wo-wondering what you had p-planned to do to me sir?" Coby asked, his voice shaking in obvious fear. Luffy nodded. _'It took a decent amount courage to talk to someone who decimated his slaver like he did. After all he doesn't know if I'm gonna make a slave out of him as well.'_ Luffy thought.

"Coby. Let me guess? You think I'm gonna do the same to you as Alvida did?" Luff asked. He seen the boy just slump over after he made his announcement. Coby looked up at him and nodded.

Luffy sighed and felt bad for the kid. "I'm not going to enslave you. I hate, no hate isn't the right word. I despise slavers. I will not take you or anyone as a slave. When we hit Shells Town you're free to go your own way." Luffy assured the child.

Coby's eyes teared up. He couldn't believe it. _'I'm finally free! This man, a pirate saved my life and freed me from that wicked Alvida! I don't even know how to thank him...' "_I don't even know what I can do to thank you Luffy-san." Coby said.

"You could start by dropping that san crap. I don't care for all those honorifics. As for how you can repay me? I don't need you to repay me. Just live your life without regrets. That's all I can ask of anyone." Luffy said. Coby nodded. "I'll do it! I'll join the marines in Shells Town. There's a base there, Alvida avoided it like the plague." Coby finally felt some happiness returning to his bleak life. All thanks to a pirate as funny as that is.

"Coby, you said you want to join the marines right?" Coby nodded. "You should probably not hang out with me after we dock. I might be known as a pirate since my teacher was a really well known pirate. It wouldn't be good to be seen with me." Luffy suggested. Coby nodded. Preparing to separate from Luffy as soon as the boat landed. "Again, thank you Luffy! I can finally start on my dream all thanks to you!" Coby said, with a hint of admiration. Luffy nodded.

* * *

The boat carrying Luffy and Coby bumped into the dock at Shells Town, signaling Coby's time to bolt. Luffy chuckled at Coby's enthusiasm. Luffy had heard rumors as he traveled about a truly terrifying swordsman in East Blue that was being held prisoner in the base here. This was the only reason he even planned to stop in this backwater town in the first place, before picking up Coby that is. Luffy walked through the town. Straw-hat covering his eyes. These people reeked of fear and misery. Luffy finally reached the marine base that overseen this town.

Walking around the corner he could see a man bound to a cross shaped post in the middle of the courtyard. He looked tired, broken even. His green hair dirty and unwashed, under his bandanna. He wore a white muscle shirt green pants and a green haramaki*. The man slowly raised his head. Glared at Luffy and spoke.

"You here to mock the dead man? I'm not a circus animal. Leave me to die in peace!" Zoro shouted. Luffy jumped over the fence. Approaching the angry swordsman. "What's wrong with you? If they see you in here they will kill you. This town's messed up. You should get out while you can." Zoro said.

"What happened to you Roronoa Zoro? I thought you were stronger than this? I came all this way for you and here you are giving up? Damned disappointing." Luffy said, sad that the man was not living up to his image. Zoro grunted. "I was promised to be released in a month but that stupid bastard lied. He said he's going to execute me and that family tomorrow. He's even got them in the base so they can't run." Luffy growled. Corrupted marines were real trash.

"I got a deal for you, I don't think you can afford to refuse it." Luffy said. Zoro lifted his head. "Deal? What deal?" Zoro asked.

"I'll get your swords seeing as they are probably in the base as well. Free that family, and kill this corrupt marine. I do that and you join my crew as my first mate. Hows that sound to you?" Luffy asked. His hat shading his eyes, giving him an intimidating presence even to the feared swordsman. Zoro took a moment to think about it. _'I'll die if I don't take this deal. If I die then I failed my word on Kuina's sword. I refuse to break my word.'_ Zoro nodded. "I accept. I have three swords, but the only one that matters to me is the white one. If you can't get the white one... I really don't care if I die here." Luffy nodded back. They would shake hands when the deal was finalized. Luffy walked to the marine base at a casual pace.

Luffy entered the facility and found a lone marine on clean up duty. He was able to sneak up on him, grab him by the throat. "Listen, marine. Where are Zoro's swords?" Luffy asked, he loosed his grip on the panicking marines throat. "Um! They are in Helmeppo-sama's room! Third floor it's the pink door!" "Thank you" Luffy said as he slammed the mans head into the wall knocking him out. Luffy made his way up to the third floor, using his **Observation Haki** to avoid the patrols. He found the room and kicked the door in. On the bed in the room was the girliest man Luffy had ever seen. The man jumped up and shrieked in a effeminate fashion.

"AHHH! Who are you!? What are you doing in my room!" The Girly-man asked. Luffy just gave him a healthy dose of **Conquerors Haki**. The girly-man fell back onto his bed, out cold for the foreseeable future. Luffy found the swords on a desk obviously being used as a trophy. It disgusted him that a mans swords, his lively hood, would be disrespected like this. He collected the blades and put them in his belt next to his saber.

Luffy was now looking for a marine. They seemed far and few between in this base. Luffy eventually found a marine that appeared to be in a rush to get upstairs. Luffy grabbed him and pulled him aside. "No! What ever you want I can't help! I gotta get to the roof and help with Morgan's statue, he'll kill me if I'm late!" The man screamed in obvious panic.

Luffy slapped him upside his head. Returning the man to a more normal state. "I need to know where the prisoners are being held. Not Zoro, but the family you guys are planning to execute! Tell me now!" Luffy angrily shouted, leaking Haki, just enough to make his threat more potent.

"They are in the basement! All the holding cells are in the basement! I swear! Please don't kill me! I got a family!" the marine begged. "The family excuse is it? Well I wasn't going to kill you either way." Luffy said as he punched him in the head knocking him out. Luffy made his way to the basement and found the family there. A mother and daughter. The older woman pulled the smaller one into the corner with her looking frightened at the newcomer.

The older woman of average height with soft brown hair and a curvy body. She looked tired and depressed. Understandable Luffy would assume under these circumstances.

The young girl looked to be about six or seven. She was sleeping was wearing a blue and green stripped shirt. Her brown hair dirty and matted.

"I'm not going to hurt you two, I'm actually here to break you out." Luffy offered a gentle smile. Much softer than his usual carefree smiles. Her eyes lit up at the thought of freedom. "Why are you helping us? Who are you?" The mother asked. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, Future Pirate King." Luffy answered her. She started panicking at the word pirate. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. Not all pirates do that stuff." She couldn't really refuse his help at the moment so she simply nodded her understanding. Luffy pulled out his saber and channeled his **Armament Haki** through the blade and slashed the blade through the lock in the gate. The lock stood no chance against the Haki enhanced blade and it was sliced cleanly into two pieces.

The woman gave he child a gentle shake "Rika-chan, wake up hun, we are escaping!" Rika woke up startled and looked around. "What's happening momma?" Rika looked at the man holding a sword and shrieked. Luffy looked down and noticed he was still holding his weapon. "Opps! Sorry about that" He smiled apologetically as he replaced the sword on his hip. "Let's go, I'll get you out of here, and then I will take care of the marine that did this to you. I promise." The nodded holding her daughter tightly so she wouldn't scream or panic too badly.

* * *

Outside the Marine headquarters.

A few minutes later Luffy, Ririka, and her daughter Rika made it out of the building. "Here you go ladies, you should get out of here it's probably gonna get wild soon!" Ririka nodded and carried her daughter home as fast as she could run. Luffy cut Zoro loose. "I've freed the girls, I got your swords back, now all I need to do is kill that corrupt marine. You gonna keep your end of the bargain Zoro?"

"I always keep my word. Captain. But a word of warning before we seal this deal. If you ever step between me and my ambition, you'll be apologizing at the end of my sword!" Zoro said, eyes hard as steel. Luffy nodded.

"What's your ambition?" Luffy asked. Zoro looked proudly at his white blade.

"To reach the top, and be the strongest swordsman in the world." Zoro finally answered.

"Ok! Sounds good, I wouldn't expect anything less from the Pirate King's right hand man!" Luffy cheered. "I got one more thing to do." Luffy said as his arm wrapped around Zoro's waist "W-What are you doing? How are you doing it!?" Zoro asked.

"I'm taking us to say hello to Morgan. He's at the top of the tower shishishi!" Zoro began to panic as realization set in. Luffy's other arm flew up to the top of he tower grabbing the edge as he pulled himself and Zoro up.

"AHHH! I'm gonna kill you!" Zoro screamed and Luffy laughed as he flew high into the air. Zoro and Luffy landed on the statue of Morgan as it was being heaved up, shattering it to pieces.

Morgan, a large man by most peoples definitions with a metal jaw and an axe replacing his right hand, giving him the moniker of Axe-Hand Morgan. Stood up from his makeshift throne and roared "Capture them! I will kill them myself!" The marines attempted to follow the tyrants orders. But even tired and half starved Zoro was more than a match for them, and killed or incapacitated them all in moments.

"How dare you peasants oppose me like this!? Don't you know who I am? I'm Captain "Axe-Hand-" Morgan was interrupted by Luffy as he cleaned his ear out with his pinky "I don't care who you are. You're just another piece of shit corrupt marine." Luffy pulled the sword Shanks gave him out of his sash and readied himself for the fight. Zoro checked out his sword. It did not appear to be anything special, just an average looking saber.

Morgan charged in, it wasn't the first time he's had a blade leveled at him. He brought down Kuro so he was stronger than these nobodies. As his Axe descended upon Luffy, Luffy simply raised his sword up blocking the swing, shocking Morgan. He had put a lot of power into that attack. Morgan stepped back and tried to kick Luffy in the chest with his left leg, Luffy just side stepped the attack brought his saber down on Morgans exposed leg. Amputating it below the knee. Morgans world exploded in pain. Zoro cringed at the brutal efficiency. The fight was over at this point.

Luffy loomed over the fallen marine. "Zoro, do you want me to kill this bastard like in the agreement or is this enough?" Zoro just sighed. "This is more than enough Captain, I don't think he's gonna be a threat to anyone any more." Luffy nodded. He then turned to the marines that Zoro did not kill or wound too badly and said "You can save this piece of trash. Or you can leave him to die. He's your problem now." Luffy and Zoro left the tower. Leaving behind numerous shocked marines.

* * *

Luffy and Zoro were in a restaurant owned by Ririka, the woman Luffy had saved earlier that day. They were stuffing their faces with food that Ririka had gladly gave them for saving her, her daughter, and the town.

"Ahh! I'm full! That meal was worth not eating for three weeks." Zoro said happily. Luffy looked over at Zoro and asked, "That's all your gonna eat?"

"How can you even eat more than me!?" Luffy shrugged.

"So captain. How many crew mates we got? You said you were going to be Pirate King so you should have a good crew already?" Zoro asked. Changing the subject from food to something more productive.

"Just you and me for now Zoro. But don't worry we'll get more!" Luffy answered. Zoro was not really thrilled with the sound of that. "Where is out boat then captain?" Zoro asked, fearing the answer.

"Right over there." Luffy said pointing a medium sized dingy that looked large enough to seat a few people. But it had a sail and looked reasonably solid. Zoro sighed. _'Could be worse I guess.'_

"Excuse me Nii-chan but where are you going next?" Rika asked Luffy. "The Grand line, but we have to make a few stops and get a few more people before we go there." Coby hearing this gasped.

"You want to go to the grand Line!? That's suicide Luffy! That's known as the pirate graveyard for a reason you know! Impossible! Impossible! You will get killed!" Coby panted after he finished his tirade. Luffy just broke out in a hearty laugh. "Shishishi Coby you are so funny! You know what some people call the first half of the Grand Line, Coby?" Coby perked up. "What Luffy?"

"Paradise! HAHA! I was raised in the New World. Taught by one of the best pirates to ever live. I really think you can stop trying to protect me Coby. We'll be fine!" Luffy said. "So now that the evil Marine is out and they cleaned up a bit are you going to sign up for the Marines Coby?" Luffy asked. Coby nodded.

"Yes Luffy!. I think now that the corruption has been removed it might be a good time to start on my dream!"

Moments later. A small group of Marines entered the restaurant. The leader a tanned man with a black goatee. Wearing standard marine attire. Stepped to the front. "I am commander Ripper. Is it true that you are pirates?" Commander Ripper asked. Luffy nodded.

"Yep, I just got my first Nakama!" Luffy answered, no shame at all in his voice.

"I see. While we appreciate everything that you have done for us. We cannot allow pirates to occupy this town. So we ask you to leave as soon as you can." Ripper stated. Disappointed in himself for having to kick someone he actually admires out of town. His decision was met with anger and shouts of indignation from the people of Shells Town. Shouts of "How could you!" "They are hero's!" and such were heard from the crowds. Luffy just nodded and he and Zoro got up, getting ready to leave.

"Hey, isn't he with you?" Ripper asked pointing at Coby who was sitting at the table. Luffy just looked at him like he asked a stupid question. "Him? I just met him in town when I docked. He has nothing to do with me being a pirate. What even gave you that idea marine?" Luffy asked. Glaring at Ripper and channeling a small amount of his **Haoshoku Haki** at him. The man broke out in a nervous sweat and nodded his understanding.

* * *

Luffy and Zoro had boarded their boat, a place they would be calling home for a while and were sailing off into the horizon when they heard shouts coming from the town. They looked back and seen a large assortment of marines and civilians. Even little Coby was in a marine outfit.

"Luffy! Thank you! Thank you for everything!" Coby said as he waved at them parting pirates.

"Men. What I am about to ask of you is completely ridiculous and voluntary but I ask it anyways. Marines Salute!" And all the marines saluted the two pirates that were getting farther away.

"Marines, saluting Pirates? Never thought I'd see that in my life!" Zoro laughed.

* * *

As for Coby... I mean Jango got into to marines when he was a high ranking and very willing pirate. I can't see them having too much trouble with a child was was forced to be a pirates slave.

I hope you enjoy. As always. Read/Review, Thanks!

Haramaki = Wide wrapping of cloth usually wrapped around the midsection.


	3. Chapter 3

Eiichiro Oda and Toei Animation Studios own One Piece Manga/Anime respectively. I'm honestly glad I don't own them. I am no match for Oda's greatness.

**The Dark King's Apprentice**

* * *

_Last Chapter Recap_

_Luffy and Zoro had boarded their boat, a place they would be calling home for a while and were sailing off into the horizon when they heard shouts coming from the town. They looked back and seen a large assortment of marines and civilians. Even little Coby was in a marine outfit._

"_Luffy! Thank you! Thank you for everything!" Coby said as he waved at them parting pirates._

_Men. What I am about to ask of you is completely ridiculous and voluntary but I ask it anyways. "Men Salute!" And all the marines saluted the two pirates that were getting farther away._

"_Marines, saluting Pirates? Never thought I'd see that in my life!" Zoro laughed._

* * *

A few hours after the two sailed away from Shells Town. Zoro was thinking about Luffy's brutal swordsmanship in the fight with Morgan... If you could could even call that a fight to begin with.

"Captain. Are you a swordsman as well? It might be nice to have a sparing partner while we sail." Zoro asked. Luffy just shook his head.

"Nope, I just use the sword from time to time. It was a gift from a good friend so I like to use it." Luffy answered. Zoro nodded.

"Who gave it to you, if you don't mind me asking?" Zoro asked.

Luffy thought about it. _'He's my nakama so why not? No secrets between nakama.' _and in a quick boisterous tone, "Shanks! He gave it to me along with my hat!" Zoro's jaw dropped.

'_Shanks? The Yonko? How does this kid know some big shot like that?'_ Zoro thought. "Is he who trained you to be as strong as you are now? It makes sense if he is." Zoro asked.

"Shanks? Naw. He taught me some things but the man who raised me and taught me everything I know is Rayleigh." Luffy answered. Not really putting any importance on the name. Zoro thought for a second. _'That name. It sounds so familiar. I just can't put my finger on it.'_

"You probably know him better as the Dark King, Silvers Rayleigh" Luffy clarified. Zoro's jaw returned to the deck of the boat. "You were taught by THE Dark King? No shit... No wonder you were so brutal back there." Zoro said.

"Yeah, hes been training me since I was a little kid." Luffy said.

"Captain, Can you tell me a little about your devil fruit power? I've always thought devil fruits were just myths." Zoro asked. Luffy nodded.

"Sure I guess. When I was six I accidentally ate this devil fruit that Shanks was gonna sell. It was the **Gomu Gomu no Mi**. It turned me into a rubber man. Now I can't swim. Shanks told me there are some that give you the power to change into an animal. The rare ones can make your body become Ice or Fire. Other things like that." Luffy told him. Zoro nodded. He kinda understood.

* * *

Elsewhere on the seas there was a small boat that had three pirates aboard. They spotted an even smaller boat with a woman in it, she looked weak and helpless. _'Perfect.'_ the men thought. They did like their woman unable to fight back. As their boat pulled to the side of the woman's boat she looked up. It was Nami. She smiled.

"Water please! I haven't drank anything in days! You can have all my treasure if I can get a glass of water." She fake begged. The men all leered at her perversely as the boarded her boat to check the treasure chest. She gave herself an mental pat on the back and jumped on their boat, which was faster than the one she was on. There was a dangerous storm coming and she didn't want anything to do with it.

The pirates got the chest open to find it empty. Enraged at being tricked they turned to grab the woman that conned them. Only to find her waving at them from their boat as she sailed away.

"Good bye! Thanks for the boat and treasure! You can have that boat by the way hehe." Nami mocked the men she had tricked.

"YOU BITCH! WE'LL KILL YOU!" They shouted at her.

"Better watch the skies! Small boats like yours are not safe in storms hehehe!" Nami laughed, as some storm clouds started forming, the rain came, and shortly after that they got struck by lightning. Their 'new' boat sinking.

* * *

"Hey look! A bird! I'm gonna catch it!" Luffy shouted as his arm grabbed the top of the mast "**Gomu Gomu no Rocket!**" Luffy shouted. Flying high into the air. Zoro just palmed his face in aggravation. _'Why does_ this_ guy have to be so stupid sometimes?!'_ Zoro thought.

Luffy grabbed the bird and the bird grabbed his head. This pissed Luffy off, he never likes it when animals eat him, he's the one who eats the animals! "Let go of me you bastard!" Luffy shouted as he wrestles with the bird, it flew faster towards land in its attempts to get away from the angry human.

Zoro watched his captain get carried away by what was supposed to be their dinner. He sighed in frustration and started rowing like a madman in the direction of the nearest Island. He heard voices behind him shouting for help "Grab on! I won't be stopping!" Zoro shouted as he continued to row.

The three pirates climbed aboard the boat. They were angry as hell at the impolite rescue. "You almost killed us! Don't you know not to mess with Buggy's crew!? We are going to take this ship!" The men approached Zoro who just glared at them. Five seconds later the pirates were beaten and bloody. As well rowing the boat for Zoro.

"You made me lose my Captain..." Zoro said in aggravation.

"We are so sorry Roronoa Zoro-sama! We didn't know it was you. We would have never attacked if we knew!" They begged for forgiveness. "Whatever..." Zoro answered not really concerned either way.

"What happened to you guys anyways?" Zoro asked, hoping to pass the time by laughing at these fools.

"We were tricked by a devil woman! She offered her treasure in exchange for water, then stole out boats and left us to sink in a storm! We'll kill her if we ever see her again!" The pirates raged.

"HAHAHA You guys suck!" Zoro laughed.

* * *

Nami was running from three of Buggy's pirates because she stole a treasure map of his. They heard an explosion and seen a large bird and some guy falling from the sky right towards them. Just before he hit the ground in what they assumed would have been a fatal impact he tapped his foot to the air and hovered for an instant before landing. Nami was shocked.

'_It's him again? Is he following me? How did he stop falling like that? Oh shit I can't worry about that right now!'_ She thought. "Hey Boss! It's great to see you! You can take care of these guys for me, right?" she asked as she ran past him.

"You guys hear her, this is her boss. If we can't get her, then you'll have to do punk. Let's go we are taking you to Buggy-sama." The pirate talking to Luffy took Luffy's inaction as refusal and attempted to punch him in the face. Luffy sensing this coming dodged and punched the man in the gut hard enough to knock him out instantly. His partners were angry, reasonably so by at the attack and pulled their swords charging at Luffy. Luffy shouted "**Gomu Gomu no Pistol!**" as he punched them in the faces sending flying down the street.

Nami had just peeked over the roof too see if the fall guy she set up was actually dead. She was shocked to see that the fight was over and the strange boy was the winner. She noticed that he was waving at her.

"Come down! It's alright. Those guys aren't gonna be getting up for a while." He called to her. She nodded and climbed down. "Nami right? Why were you being chased by those pirates? Did you steal something of theirs?" Luffy asked. She nodded.

"Yep, I stole a treasure map from Buggy. But I was caught so I had to run. Now stealing their treasure will be impossible." Nami pouted.

"Did you say Buggy? Shishishi. I know about Buggy!" Luffy laughed. Nami looked at Luffy like he had grown another head.

"What does someone like you know about someone like Buggy? You don't seem like anything special to me." Nami asked. Luffy pouted.

"That wasn't very nice Nami! One of my good friends was crewed with Buggy." Nami just stared at Luffy for a moment.

"You know he's one of the most notorious pirates in east blue right?" Nami asked. Luffy nodded.

"Is he? So what though? This is East Blue. Doesn't take too much to be infamous here in the weakest sea." Luffy chuckled. "How about this, We work together to rob Buggy blind? I'll give you a good cut!" Nami thought about it for a second. _'This pirate doesn't seem as bad as most I've had to deal with.'_ She nodded.

"Ok, as long as there's money in it for me, we can work together." Nami said. But was thinking _'I can always steal his cut later and double my profit!'_

* * *

A while before Luffy and Nami made their deal. Zoro and his new friends were landing at the island. When they hit the dock, the pirates tried to run to tell Buggy about the pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro being on the Island but they did not get very far before Zoro took them out. Zoro decided to look for Luffy by simply walking through town. A terrifying thought I know. He did eventually come across two unconscious men in the road.

"This looks like Luffy's work" Zoro thought out loud. Zoro heard a familiar voice behind him. He turned around and found his captain running up to him with a woman.

"Hey Zoro! Where you been?" Luffy asked, as if it wasn't the stupidest question in the world.

"BAKA! I was looking for you! You got caught by that bird I had to row to town! Three pirates tried to take my boat because some woman stole theirs!" Luffy was laughing while Nami just giggled a little.

"Sorry, That was me, hehe" Nami said, though she did not sound very apologetic about it. Zoro glanced at her. Nami becoming nervous under his gaze. This is the infamous Roronoa Zoro after all.

"You a Navigator Nami-san? The men that you robbed told me an interesting story." Zoro asked. She smiled brightly and nodded.

"Best damn navigator you'll find in East Blue!" She exclaimed.

"You should get her to join the crew captain. We will need a navigator soon." Zoro said. Nami looked disgusted at the idea.

"We agreed to work together to rob Buggy. Of course after I kick his ass!" Luffy said.

"Oh we're gonna fight? Good. I was getting bored." Zoro said.

Nami was listening to these two idiots talk about doing incredibly stupid dangerous things as though they were something they did every day. Like it was no big deal to start a fight with a crew as infamous as the Buggy Pirates. _'These guys are going to get me killed at this rate.'_ She sobbed in her head.

* * *

An old man looking to be somewhere in his sixties with bushy gray hair. Wearing an orange striped shirt under cheap home-made wooden armor and black shorts was making his way to Buggy's headquarters at the towns pub.

"What are you kids doing here! This town is being occupied so you should get out." The old man called out to the three teens in the street. The three teens turned and the one in the straw hat waved at him.

"We're about to fight Buggy ourselves old man. Why are you trying to fight him? I don't think you can win again him yourself. He's not very strong but he is stronger than you." Luffy said, trying to save the old mans life.

"I'm Boodle, the mayor of Orange Town. It's my responsibility to expel this pirate scum! So get out of my way!" Boodle ordered Luffy sighed. He then knocked the old man out with a weak pulse of **Haoshoku Haki**. Nami saw the mans eyes roll back in his skull and Luffy ran up catching him. Not wanting to cause the old man more harm than he already did.

"What did you do to him?! How could you hurt that old man? Damned Pirates!" Nami shouted. Luffy just looked at her annoyed slightly.

"He was going to get himself killed, so I just put him to sleep. He's fine." Luffy said as he placed the old man on a porch next to a little white dog. It barked at him but did not leave it's pet store.

"Captain. How did you do that to the old man anyways? You didn't even touch him?" Zoro asked. His captain really was a strange man. Luffy sighed.

"It's a mystery power, called Haki. I'll tell you about it after we beat Buggy. Alright?" Luffy finally answered. Zoro nodded.

Luffy, Zoro, and Nami continued their walk to Buggy's location.

* * *

On the roof of a large bar that the Buggy pirates have converted into a base of sorts.

"So you are telling me you lost the thief!? How worthless are you people! Sometimes I wonder why I keep you around." Buggy shouted at his useless subordinates. "But captain sir! The thief's boss was super strong. He knocked us out easy! He may be as strong as you are?" The foolish man said. Buggy's eye twitched. His ego not allowing him to believe that anyone in the pathetic East Blue could be nearly as strong as him. He ended the life of the fool seconds after he completed that careless statement.

"Someone! Find that map or I'll kill all of you and recruit a whole new crew!" Buggy ordered. His men were about to scramble when they heard the most taboo words being shouted from in front of the bar.

"Hey Big nose! Get out here so I can beat your ass!" Luffy shouted. Buggy became livid. No one used that name in his presence and lived to tell the tale.

"Kill him! Fire the Buggy-Ball! I want him DEAD!" Buggy's rage was palpable. Buggy's pirates loaded the canon with a Buggy-Ball and pointed it at Luffy. Nami and Zoro were in different degrees of panic. Zoro just looked a little nervous. He knew his captain was a monster. Nami on the other hand was running back and forth in full blown panic mode.

"What are we gonna do!? He's gonna kill us all!" Nami screamed.

The burning wick in the canon finally hit the powder and it fired. Luffy said "**Gomu Gomu no Fussen**" and took a deep breath his body inflating like a balloon. The Buggy-Ball hit Luffy's stomach and for a moment everything slowed down.

Buggy's eyes widened upon realization this situation has gone sideways.. "He's gonna throw it back! He's gonna throw the Buggy-Ball back at us!" Just as he finished that statement, the Buggy-Ball flew back and exploded the top of the bar.

"What are you?! Explain yourself clearly to me now?!" Nami said, confused by how a man could do what Luffy just did. Luffy just laughed.

"I ate the **Gomu Gomu no Mi** I'm a rubber man. See?" As he pulled his cheeks, stretching them longer than any normal human should be able to.

"Don't scare people like that Luffy." Zoro said, casually walking back to his captains side.

When the smoke cleared only three figures could be seen standing. Buggy, who was holding two of his crew mates in front him as shields, Cabaji, The second mate of Buggy holding a giant lion in front of himself the lion was out cold. Lastly the first mate Mohji who was also holding a fellow Buggy Pirate. "Cabaji! How dare you use Richie as a shield!" Mohji screamed at his teammate.

"Captain! He has a devil fruit power like you!" Some of the remaining Buggy crew members shouted, nearly hysterical in fear.

"This is a big embarrassment Buggy-sama. We can't let this slide Captain." Cabaji stated. Dropping the lion to the side. Buggy agreed.

"Yes, I'm so mad right now that words escape me! Cabaji, you take Zoro, I'll take the rubber-bastard. Mohji. You take the woman." Buggy commanded. Cabaji and Mohji obeyed.

Mohji charged at Nami, who was looking for an escape rout when the straw-hat kid appeared between him and his target. His hand reared back by the time Mohji could make a move to defend himself, he was sent flying through a building by Luffy's fist. "She's not fighting. Me and Zoro are your targets." Luffy told Buggy.

'_I can't believe it! Now I owe him my life...'_ Nami thought. "Thank you, Luffy-san." She felt obligated to say. "No worries. Go ahead and get the treasure! I'll watch your back." Luffy cheered. Nami felt a small bit of trust forming in this man. _'Maybe not ALL pirates are as bad as Arlong?'_

* * *

Luffy stared at Buggy. "You ready for your ass kicking Big Nose?" Luffy asked with a cocky grin on his face. Buggy pulled out several knives from... Somewhere. Pointed his fists at Luffy. He called his attack out. **"Bara Bara HO!"** Buggy's fists separated from his wrists and flew off him at decent speed. Nothing Luffy couldn't handle so he just side stepped them and used Soru to surprise Buggy and hit him in the stomach with an ordinary but powerful punch. Buggy flew back several feet before catching himself.

Buggy spit some blood on the ground, growling at the failed attempt. His hands returned to him and he activated the knives hidden in his shoes. Then shouted "**Bara Bara Senbei"** causing his bottom half to cartwheel at Luffy emulating a circular saw blade. "You can't bounce back knives can you! Straw-hat!?" Buggy shouted.

"Nope. Can't be done." Luffy grinned. He knew his strengths and weaknesses, and he did not mind sharing with Buggy. Because Buggy could not actually use the knowledge to his fullest advantage.

Luffy jumped high into the air to avoid the spinning attack from Buggy and buggy smiled. "You can't easily move while jumping! Buggy threw his hands at Luffy again. But Luffy simply uses **Geppo** to stop his fall long enough to avoid the deadly knives. Buggy looked quite shocked. _'How did he stop his fall?'_ Buggy was caught off guard as he received a strong hit to the face in the form of a **Gomo Gomu no pistol**. After getting up and wiping the blood from his big red nose. He shouted.

"Damn you and damn that straw hat! It reminds me of that bastard Red Hair!" Buggy spat the name as if it tasted as bad as the Bara Bara no Mi did. Luffy's eyes lit up.

"Shishishi, that's right you and Shanks were cabin boys on the Oro Jackson weren't you?" Luffy asked. A look of abject terror crossed Buggy's face. If that little bit of information got out, his life was over. He had to kill this man before he left the island.

"Who told you that? There's only a few people alive that know that little secret!?" Buggy asked. Luffy laughed again.

"Oh I'm just good friends with two of those people shishishi... Rayleigh and Shanks both told me stories about you! You'd be embarrassed if you knew what I know about you!" Luffy mocked the clown. Buggy snapped and was about to charge Straw-hat when he noticed that Straw-hat was no longer there. Suddenly he appeared right in front of Buggy, one hand held up as if aiming with it the other arm stretched far back. Buggy heard **Gomu Gomu no Bazooka**! Then all he knew was pain as he flew away to parts unknown.

Luffy smiled. _'That was at least a little fun. Getting to make fun of big nose. I should have told him a few stories before I set him away.'_ Luffy made his way over to Zoro's fight.

* * *

Nami snuck into the building that Buggy stored his gold. There was only one guard, out cold with a bottle of liquor in his hand. She used a discarded sword to cut the lock off the door protecting Buggy's treasure. Her beautiful eyes transformed into beli symbols as she gazed upon the massive pile of gold. She was in the middle of playing with the gold when she heard a voice behind her.

"Hey... Who hic who are you! The cap'n said no one's to come in here. Hic... Say you're kinda cute." the man drunkenly slurred.

Nami nearly panicked. But she's been in worse spots before. "Ouch!" She cried. The mans threatening posture quickly changed to a more concerned one. "My chest, it hurts! Could you take a look?" She asked seductively. The man eagerly agreed giggling perversely. She smirked. _'hook, line, and sinker!'_ She pulled out a three-piece staff and ball checked him followed by a smack to the head sending him into blissful slumber. Well she had a job to do so she started collecting the gold into bags.

A short time later Nami was dragging a large bag of fine gold to her boat. Once she had that sorted out she when back for the others. _'This is going to take a while I think.'_

* * *

Luffy arrived at Zoro's fight and took a seat on a piece of the bar that Buggy's canon ball destroyed.

Several yards away and several moments earlier.

"So you are the legendary Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro? You don't look like much to me..." Cabaji tried to put up a courageous front. He was a little bit nervous fighting such a well known and feared bounty hunter.

"I've never called myself that... But it is kind of a funny title, now that I am a Pirate" Zoro stated. This surprised Cabaji a bit.

"You're a Pirate? That rubber guy too?" Cabaji asked. Zoro nodded "He's my captain" Zoro said.

"Hah! That fool is your captain? Buggy's gonna kill him!" Zoro shrugged.

"Not likely. I've seen some of the things Captain can do... You're captain doesn't stand a chance against my captain." Zoro stated with finality, placing his beloved sword "Wado Ichimonji" into his mouth, signaling he was ready for battle.

"The infamous **Santoryu** eh? I always wanted to see how it would stand up against my **Carnival tricks!**" Cabaji jumped on his unicycle and sped towards Zoro. Zoro's face twisted into a disgusted sneer.

"Fight me seriously unless you aren't a real swordsman after all!" Zoro shouted, as he jumped to the side evading the fire breath attack that Cabaji attempted to hit him with.

"But I am serious! This is how I fight!" They clashed swords for a few moments testing each others strength. Zoro was winning, pushing Cabaji back on his unicycle. Cabaji jumped back while still on his unicycle and started spinning with his sword in the ground calling out his attack. **"Kyokugi: Yukemuri Satsujin Jiken!"** Raising a large dust cloud. Zoro did not like the looks of this at all so he jumped far back several feet.

"All you did was trow some dust up into the air? Is that supposed to scare me?" Zoro taunted. Cabaji came charging out of the dust in the direction of Zoro's voice. Zoro jumped to the side and got into position for his technique. Soon as Cabaji turn to engage Zoro he called out his own attack.

"**Tora GARI!"** He appeared behind Cabaji who was falling to the ground bleeding badly fro the chest. Zoro re-sheathed his blades and turned to find his captain clapping.

"Damn pretty good fight Zoro! I think it's time to get outta here though, I want to see how much gold Nami has gotten." Luffy said.

* * *

Luffy and Zoro made it to where Nami was, and she was filling one of Buggy's boats. It was considerably larger than their current boat so they all agreed to take it. Not like Buggy was gonna be using it any time soon. Luffy was laughing as he messed with the gold wearing the crowns and rings pretending he was already the pirate king and these were his accessories. Nami looked annoyed at someone touching what she perceived as her gold.

When they were all about to leave the island behind they heard the old man yelling at them from the dock. Large groups of people behind him. "YOU BRATS!" It was Boodle that was shouting at them.

"It's that old mayor..." Luffy, Zoro, and Nami just waited for what the old man had to say.

"I always thought it was alright if I died! But you saved me and for that I can't think you enough! I'll repay the favor somehow! Someday!" Boodle finally shouted at them. Luffy laughed.

"Don't worry about it old man! Take it easy!" Boodle just chuckled. _'You brats, you damned brats!' _Boodle thought. Then he looked over at the ground to his left and found a large bag, he opened it, and found it to be filled with gold, so much gold he couldn't believe it. He promptly fainted at the sight.

* * *

Nami had just noticed there was a bag of gold missing from the pile. She looked back at the docks hat were still barely in sight and seen the bag there. "What did you do Luffy!? Why is my gold on the island still?" Nami shouted, mouth filled with shark-like teeth.

"That guys town has been nearly destroyed... I figured they could use a little help getting it rebuilt. We'll get more gold it's no big deal" Luffy said but was rewarded with a fist to the head. "Damn Nami... I didn't know you could use **Armament Haki**?" Luffy complained. Nami was confused. _'What's Armament Haki?'_

"What is Armament Haki Captain? Is it any relation to what you were going to tell me about after we beat Buggy?" Luffy nodded, and answered his first mate.

"Oh, yeah I was gonna tell you about my mystery power. How did Oji-san explain it... "Oh yeah. He explained to me that there are three colors of Haki. The **Color of Observation** which lets you see an attack coming before the person even uses it. And it lets you sense people you can't see." Zoro nodded, that did sound useful.

"Then there is the **Color or Armaments**, that lets you put an invisible layer of armor around parts or your whole body that can protect you from damage, or even better make you hit harder! You can even use it through swords and other weapons." Zoro's eyes lit up at the thought of using this Haki power in his swords.

"There is one more, but its super rare. Only one person in a million or something like that can use it. I'm one, It's called **Color of the** **Conquering King**, It's what I used on the old mayor when he wouldn't listen to me. It allows someone to use their own will to over power someone who is weaker than them." Luffy said. Rubbing his head. That much thinking caused his brain to hurt.

'_What the hell are these idiots talking about? That stuff has got to be impossible! Seeing things that can't be seen? Using invisible armor? This is all crazy talk!'_ Nami was considering jumping ship and taking her chances. If it wasn't for her gold she would probably have done so a long time ago.

"Captain, do you think I can learn any of these skills?" Zoro asked, hopeful. Luffy nodded.

"Of course Anyone can learn the first two, Just takes a lot of hard work. You gotta be born with the last one though, I can't do anything about that. But there's not much we can do here. Gotta wait until get to land or a bigger boat first." Luffy answered. Zoro nodded.

* * *

A few days of long boring sailing later and the crew plus one hesitant navigator were nearing a large island. "That's Gecko Island. There is a small village there named Syrup village. I only know because there is a really rich family that lives there somewhere." Nami mentioned. The two men nodded and got ready to beach the boat...

To Be Continued.

* * *

I hope you enjoy. As always. Read/Review, Thanks!


	4. Chapter 4

Eiichiro Oda and Toei Animation Studios own One Piece Manga/Anime respectively. I'm honestly glad I don't own them. I am no match for Oda's greatness.

**The Dark King****'s Apprentice**

* * *

_Last Chapter Recap_

_A few days of long boring sailing later and the crew plus one hesitant navigator were nearing a large island. "That's Gecko Island. There is a small village there named Syrup village. I only know because there is a really rich family that lives there somewhere." Nami mentioned. The two men nodded and got ready to beach the boat..._

* * *

A young man of about seventeen years old. He had a wild afro under a brown checkered bandanna, wearing dark brown coveralls, with a slingshot in his back pocket, and a large satchel strung over his shoulder. He was running through Syrup Village shouting at the top of his lungs. To the great annoyance of all the residents in ear-shot.

"Pirates! Pirates are coming! Everyone evacuate, they'll kill us all!" The young man shouted. You would think the people of this village would appreciate the warning. But no, they seemed to be highly agitated and angry instead. Shouts from the various residents could be heard. The general consensus of these shouts? "You damned liar!" "Shut your lying mouth!" "We'll catch you Usopp!" And so on.

"HAHA! Catch me if you can!" The now named Usopp shouted running down the road away from the town. The boy met up with two smaller children that each had a unique hair style shaped like a vegetable.

"Hey! Captain! The Usopp Pirates are here! Did you warn everyone in town already today?" One of the boys asked. Usopp nodded and smiled brightly.

"Good morning! Piiman, Ninjin, Where's Tamanegi? Yeah I scared the villagers but good!" Usopp proudly admitting to his lying. They suddenly heard a voice in the distance shouting "It's terrible! TERRIBLE!" Once the person shouting got closer they seen that it was Tamanegi.

"Pirates are coming! Pirates are here! There boat is near the shore now!" He was very tired and very scared. Usopp and the rest of the boys were confused by these claims.

"Tamanegi, that's a lie. I say it every day." Usopp said. Tamanegi shook his head furiously. "No, I'm telling you the truth this time!" Usopp gained a terrified expression and shouted something about going for snacks. The boys screamed at him.

"Captain Usopp! Don't you want to be a real pirate one day? We have to protect the town. It was flying the flag of Buggy "The Clown"!" At the name Usopp got even more fearful.

What Tamanegi said next actually boosted boosted Usopp's confidence. "I only seen three people in the boat!" Usopp stood straight up, putting up a brave front.

"All right men! Let us prepare for battle! Usopp Pirate Crew! We will protect our home!" The children cheered and they all ran to the beach to confront the pirates.

* * *

Luffy, Zoro, and Nami were stretching their legs as they beached the boat. Luffy was commenting about eating some meat to Nami's ever present aggravation. Zoro was looking around. Always mindful of his surroundings, as any good swordsman would be. When he heard a rustle in the bushes up on a short cliff side. He instantly became alert, thumbing his treasured blade, Wado Ichimonji.

"Be careful. We're not alone" Zoro said. Getting a questioning look from Nami, and a nod from Luffy.

"Yeah, I know. They aren't a threat though, so don't worry." Suddenly multiple pirate flags came up out of the bushes. Usopp came out firing a volley of pachinko at Luffy, Luffy casually weaved in and out of them. Usopp finally stopped firing and stood boldly.

"Hey you pirates! I'm the great Captain Usopp! Leader of Eighty million pirates!" Usopp shouted proudly.

"Eighty Million! SUGOI!" Luffy shouted in pure excitement.

"He's lying Luffy." Nami said to Luffy. "Aren't you... Captain Usopp?" Nami asked Usopp, cocky smirk on her face. Luffy palmed his face.

"Of course he's lying Nami eighty million people wouldn't even fit on this island! Shishishi! I was just trying to play along with him! Why you gotta ruin all my fun?" Luffy asked with a slight pout.

"You caught me! You saw through my lie?! This is bad!" Usopp shouted, seconds later all the flags waving from the bushes fell to the ground in a clatter as the kids courage broke. "AHHH Don't leave me you guys!" Usopp screamed at the retreating figures. Usopp turned back to face the pirates

"Don't laugh at me! I'm a man of great pride!" Usopp growled out, loading and drawing his slingshot. Aiming it at Luffy. "My skill with a slingshot is better than any pistol!"

Luffy's entire persona suddenly changed. He lowered the front of his hat so that his eyes were shadowed. "Being a Pirate isn't all fun and games you know? Weapons aren't toys. You shouldn't aim a weapon at another Pirate unless you intend to use that weapon. If you let that pachinko fly, I will have to respond, won't I?" Luffy asked, with his full 'Pirate King' persona going.

Usopp's knees started shaking. Sweat rolling down his brow. He finally dropped his pachinko and slingshot. "I should have known. I could never stand up to the real deal. Do what you will." Usopp sighed in resignation. Luffy and Zoro laughed.

"Shishishi! I've been looking for you for a long time Usopp, son of Yassop!" Usopp's head shot up as if he had been struck by lightning. "You know my dad? How is that possible?" Usopp asked. Large radiant smile on his face.

"Yeah! Your dad was with Shanks crew when they came to visit me and my teacher on our island! He couldn't stop talking about you shishishi! Luffy said. Usopp just smiled.

"You wanna come get some food? My treat. You can tell me some stories about him if you want." Usopp nearly begged. Luffy, Nami, Zoro followed Usopp into town to a restaurant named "Meshi" roughly translating to "Food".

* * *

Luffy had just got done telling Usopp about the time Yasopp had ricocheted a bullet off 5 surfaces to hit a fly knocking the wings off of it yet leaving it alive. Angry I'm sure, but very much alive.

"Sugoi! That is so COOL! My dad is the best! Did you say he is with the Yonko, Red Hair Shanks crew?" Usopp asked, excitedly. Luffy nodded. Nami turned to Luffy.

"I still find it hard to believe someone like you knows someone as famous as a Yonko." Nami said, disbelievingly.

Zoro raised his hand and counted off. "Captain can Fly, stop bladed weapons with his bare hands, knock people out without even touching them... I'm sure he's hiding more secrets. I have no trouble believing he knows a Yonko at this point. Besides he did tell me about Shanks the first day we met." The others were quite shocked. Nami had seen some of these feats while Usopp had only seen the dodging feat.

"You can fly?" Usopp questioned. Understandably doubtful. Luffy shrugged. "It's not really flying, but close." Luffy said.

"I won't believe that till I see it!" Usopp said. Shoveling more food into his mouth. Luffy shrugged. It's not like he had to prove himself to anyone.

"Hey Usopp, we need a new boat. You know anyone on this island that may be able to help us with that? We have money so there's no issues with that." Zoro asked. Nami had a few tick marks on her forehead. _'That's my gold damn it!'_ Usopp grew thoughtful for a moment.

"Maybe Kaya-san would be able to help you. But she's been sick, and her butler won't let her receive any visitors." Usopp said. Luffy shrugged, he didn't care about butlers.

Usopp looked out the window and realized it was getting late. "I gotta go! Don't go see Kaya-san! You're not allowed!" Usopp booked it out the door as fast as he could.

"What was that about?" Nami asked. Luffy and Zoro shrugged, just as confused as she was. A few minutes after Usopp left, the three boys that were with Usopp earlier, Ninjin, Piiman, and Tamanegi ran into the restaurant pointing crudely made wooden swords at the three pirates.

"Where is our captain!" They shouted, attempting to be as threatening as was possible for three children with their legs shaking. Luffy sighed in contentment at that very moment.

"Ahhh That meat was good!" Realization was dawning on the boys faces. Zoro looked at them, a dark sinister glint in his eyes "Your captain... He was delicious!" The kids jumped up into the air, then promptly fainted.

"Why did you have to do that!?" Nami screamed as she punched Zoro in the top of the head sending him face first into the table. Zoro's head was smoking and had a giant bump.

"You witch!" Zoro shouted at her in impotent anger. He would never strike an unarmed woman, his swordsman's code would never allow such a shameful act. So what else could he honestly do?

A few moments later the three children woke up, they were told the truth and actually laughed at themselves. Luffy asked where their 'captain' went at about this time.

"Captain goes to tell the ojo-sama lies!" They said in unison. Nami looked shocked at this. Zoro as usual shrugged. Luffy laughed.

"What do you mean he tells her lies? Isn't that a bad thing?" Nami asked. The three kids shook their heads.

"No, since she's sick Usopp goes there and tells her stories that make her happy. He's trying to help her feel better. But that darn butler won't let him stay for long!" Tamanegi said.

"Yosh! Let's go help cheer up the sick lady!" Luffy shouted. Zoro just chucked at Luffy's attitude. Nami sighed but followed anyways. The kids ran after them.

* * *

"But I want to see Usopp-san! Klahadore, why won't you let me? He only wants to help!" A pale, fragile looking young woman that had light blonde hair, wearing a white sun dress asked in exasperation. Ger butler named Klahadore sighed.

"You cannot see that ruffian any longer because he harasses the townsfolk and causes no end of trouble. Your health cannot handle the extra stress his lies put on you Ojo-sama." Klahadore said. He is a rather slim tall man. He wore a traditional black outfit. His hair was greased and tightly slicked back. He wore extremely thin wire-framed glasses that he was pushing his glasses back into their proper place with the palm of his hand.

Outside the the gated houses property, Usopp was sneaking about until he came to a slightly discolored section of the hedge fence. After pulling the cutout away, he slid through. Replacing it behind him. He climbed a large tree next to an open window. "Kaya-san! It's good to see you. You don't look as weak as you usually do!" Usopp said, giving her a kind smile. She returned his smile.

"Usopp-san! I wanted to invite you in as a proper guest... But Klahadore wouldn't let me." She pouted. Usopp just laughed "I don't need to come in! This is fine. After all I am a brave warrior of the sea!" Usopp and Kaya laughed together.

"That remind me of the time I found the Giant Island Goldfish when I was a little kid!" Usopp said. Kaya looked confused by the name.

"Giant Island Goldfish" Kaya asked. Usopp nodded.

"The Goldfish is so large that when it poops it leaves behind Islands! HAHAHA!" Usopp and Kaya laughed at the absurdity of it all. If only they knew...

* * *

Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and the Usopp Pirates were all approaching the mansion. The kids pointed at all the guards and fences.

"That's why we can't get in. Captain has a secret way, but he won't show us." The kids looked down depressed. Luffy walked up to the fence looked at the height. Nodding to himself. His arm snaked out and grabbed Nami, and the kids around the waist, causing them all to shriek in terror at the sight.

"What the hell are you doing Luffy?" Nami shouted.

"Shishishi! I'm getting us past this fence!" He flexed the muscles in his legs. The intense workouts that Rayleigh forced him to do coming into effect here as he jumped and cleared the ten foot high hedge fence as though he was hurdling a knee-high wall. Even Zoro was impressed with the feat of leg strength and followed suit. Luffy and his passengers were shocked further when Luffy used **Geppo** to stop a foot off the ground and set them down gently. They heard more sounds of surprise from the mansion.

"He-He can fly? That's amazing." Usopp said, He could hardly believe his own eyes at the moment. Kaya agreed completely.

"Are these your friends Usopp-san? Kaya asked. Usopp turned to her and nodded happily.

"Yeah! They have come from far and wide to join the Usopp Pirates! Can you believe it?" Usopp said, but his head fell when he heard a resounding "**NO!**" from everyone around. Kaya laughed at that.

"Excuse me, Lady. Can I ask a fav-" Luffy was rudely interrupted before he could finish his request by Klahadore.

"What is the meaning of this? You people are trespassing on private property. If you do not vacate this property at once I will be forced to call security." Kaya objected adamantly.

"Klahadore, these are Usopp-san and his friends! There is no need to be so mean." She pouted. Never understanding why her butler did not listen to her wishes. Luffy looked at the man with more than just his eyes.

"Zoro. Watch out for this guy. He has a lot more fighting power than someone should as a butler." Luffy said, quietly. Zoro nodded.

"Usopp-san! I've heard about you. I hear about you every day. You seem pretty famous in our small town." Klahadore said. Usopp brightened up at this.

"Really? Well then you may address me as "Captain Usopp!" Usopp said, proudly. Klahadore sighed.

"Captain you say? I've even heard stories about your father." Usopp looked excited at this but Kaya looked angry.

"Klahadore stop this at once!" She begged. Klahadore shook his head in the negative.

"You're just the son of a Low-Class pirate!" Klahadore said, raising his voice as he spoke his hurtful words. Luffy's hat was lowering over his eyes as his good friend Yasopp and Yasopp's son were being insulted right in front of him.

"You need to stop pestering Ojo-sama!" Usopp glared at the man.

"You called my father low-class just now? Is that what you said?" Usopp demanded. Klahadore ignored him.

"You and the Ojo-sama are from completely different worlds. What is it you really want, son of a pirate? Money? How much to get you to leave Ojo-sama alone?" Kaya shouted at her butler.

"Klahadore! That's enough! Apologize to Usopp at once!" she demanded. Yet again her hired help refused to acknowledge his lady's demands.

Usopp turned to Kaya "That's dangerous, don't get too excited." He said trying to calm the feeble girl down.

"Why should I apologize to such a low class peasant as this? Ojo-sama?" Klahadore had a dangerous aura to himself now, he sounded angry at his own Lady. Luffy stepped forward.

"Maybe you should stop because your boss told you to? Isn't that what Butlers do? What they are told?" Luffy asked. The sneer that appeared on Klahadore's face could have killed a lesser man. However Luffy just shrugged it off like it was a gentle breeze.

"I do what is best for my Lady, even if it is not her wish! You all need to get out There is no need for ruffian scum and the spawn of a pirate on this property!" Klahadore ordered them to leave. Usopp using a rope and hook from his pouch swung to the hedge fence.

"Fine I know when I'm not wanted! I'll never come back again!" He then jumped past the fence, leaving a crying Kaya, an angry butler and several confused spectators behind. Klahadore turned to Luffy and his crew.

"I thought I told you to get out!" Klahadore's temper was flaring. Luffy just glared at him from under his hat. This man's arrogance knew no bounds it would seem.

"You did. But I don't take orders from butlers." Luffy said, cold as ice. "But I will be leaving now. It was nice meeting you Kaya." He smiled at Kaya. Then he grabbed Nami and the kids and jumped back over the fence. Klahadore's gaze following him as he left.

'_That man... He could be a problem for the plan. I haven't felt such a presence in a while.'_ Klahadore turned and walked back into the mansion. He had plans to make.

* * *

"So, tell me where does your captain go exactly, when he gets sad and stuff?" Luffy asked the Usopp Pirates. They looked at each other and nodded.

"Captain goes to the coast and looks out at the ocean, longing for the days he can be a great warrior of the seas!" The three boys said in unison as if it was a rehearsed bit. Luffy smiled and turned to his friends.

"Wait for me here, I'll be going to see our future sniper! Oh and Zoro." Luffy said, turning to Zoro. "Yes, Captain? He asked.

"You should try meditating while you wait for me to get back! It'll help later!" Luffy said as he used **Soru** to head off to the west side of the island. His speed was so fast that none of the five people there could see him move. Nami blinked and asked what she and the Usopp Pirates were all thinking. "Did he just disappear?"

"No, he just moved so fast that you couldn't see him move. At least that is what I think... I've seen him do it before in a battle with Captain Morgan in Shells Town." Zoro answered.

'_He is so fast that I couldn't even see him move? I've never seen Arlong move that fast... I wonder if he's strong enough? NO! What am I thinking, No one is as strong as that monster!'_ Nami thought, almost slapping herself for gaining hope.

Zoro noticed her slightly hopeful face sharply drop, he just shrugged. _'Not my business, she's not even in our crew yet...'_ Zoro said down in the traditional meditative position and closed his eyes, calming his mind. He had a decent amount of experience meditating, as a swordsman a calm spirit is essential. Nami looked at him oddly.

"What are you doing Zoro?" she asked. Zoro did not even open his eyes, but answered in an annoyed tone anyways.

"I'm following my captains suggestion. What does it look like woman?" Nami growled at him, considering hitting him in the head again. But chose not to push her luck with the violent swordsman.

* * *

Usopp was sitting with his back to a tree overlooking the ocean on a high cliff. He was so out of it that when he heard a twig snap behind him and nearly jumped off the cliff in fright. Luffy laughed as he grabbed Usopp's shirt to stop him from falling to a painful death.

"Usopp. Why don't you join my crew! We'll have great adventures. Someday I'll take you to see your old man!" Usopp was genuinely interested in the offer but shook his head intensely. Luffy looked disappointed.

"Why not Usopp? Don't you want to be a real pirate? Isn't this pretend shit getting old? You are a man now. It's time to move on." Luffy said, trying to convince the young man. He had a damned promise to keep after all. Usopp sighed.

"I do want to go with you, but I can't leave... Just yet. There is something I need to do first." Usopp said, Luffy nodded.

You don't have forever Usopp, we will move on eventually. Hold on... Someones coming" Luffy looked down and seen that stupid butler, meeting a strange man on the beach. "Usopp, come here but be quiet alright?" Usopp nodded and crawled over to the edge of the cliff.

* * *

"Captain Kuro! How... Nice to see you again." Said a strange man in a large wide rim black hat, black trench coat, brown pants. With heart shaped red sunglasses and a four or five inch long 'Egyptian Pharaoh' goatee.

"Do NOT call me that name again, Jango! How many times must I tell you. Captain Kuro is dead. Only Klahadore will live after this plan is complete. And I don't need your loud, idiotic mouth ruining my well laid plans!" The now named Kuro shouted.

With Luffy and Usopp. "Captain Kuro! He's a dangerous Pirate... I thought the marines killed him years ago?" Usopp whispered fearfully. Luffy just shrugged.

Back with Kuro and Jango. "The plan's right on track Klahadore-san. We will rush the town tomorrow, kill a few people here, damage a little property there, then kill the Ojo-sama as you requested." Jango said. confirming Usopp's worst fear.

Kuro palmed his face in frustration. "You cannot just kill her damn it! How many times must I tell you this plan. I am beginning to question your ability to carry it out! She must first write a will, naming me as Klahadore, NOT KURO! As her sole heir and then she can die, but only in an accident, do you understand!?" Kuro shouted, losing his patience with the backwards man. Jango nodded.

"Yeah boss, I got it, Ku-Klahadore, Make Will, and then Accident... Alrighty. We'll start the raid tomorrow at dawn, sound good?" Jango asked, wanting to get away from his angry boss as soon as possible.

Kuro wanted to strangle the man, he herd his near slip. "You better get this right Jango. If you mess up my plan... You will beg me for death, before I am through with you. You hear me?" Jango nodded, sweat pouring down his face at the cold as ice threat that he knew, without a shadow of a doubt Kuro would carry it out.

* * *

"What are we gonna do? What am I going to do!? I gotta warn the town! They could all die! Kaya-san! I gotta tell her!" Luffy used a small amount of **Conquerors Haki** on Usopp breaking him out of his self induced panic attack. Usopp's eyes darted around trying to locate the source until they landed on Luffy who looked a little too intense at the moment for his liking.

"Y-y-you did that didn't you? What was it?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah, I did it, had to, you were freaking out on me. It's just a special power I can do. If you join my crew I'll tell you about it. But what are you gonna do if you tell the townspeople. Don't you do the same thing every day? What's the difference this time?" Luffy asked. Usopp wanted to scream in his helplessness.

"I don't know! But I can't do NOTHING!" I'll loose all my friends, Kaya! I can't lose her!" He sniffed wiping tears away from his eyes. Luffy suddenly understood.

"You like her, don't you?" Luffy asked. Usopp could only nod. "I understand! We'll help you protect your nakama Usopp! Then you can become our nakama! Ok?" Luffy shouted. Usopp's eyes lit up.

"You would do that for me? But you hardly know me? Why waste your time with me, or with this town you just arrived at?" Usopp asked, he never thought a pirate would consider helping someone like him.

"Because we're friends! That's all the reason I need. Let's go, we'll meet up with Zoro and the others and plan the attack!" Luffy cheered, his love of a good fight showing. Usopp cried tears of happiness as the ran to meet with the others.

* * *

Luffy kicked a sleeping Zoro in the side. While Usopp woke Nami and the others a little more gently. Zoro grunted as he woke up.

"What the hell, Captain? Why the hell you kicking me while I'm asleep?" Zoro asked in indignation. Luffy laughed.

"The better question is why were you all sleeping in the street?" Luffy asked. Zoro looked around realizing Luffy was right. Then it hit him.

"Some weird guy hypnotized us. Making us fall asleep!" Zoro said, describing Jango. Luffy nodded.

"We've seen him, and he was working with that bastard butler. But the butler is actually a pirate named Kuro, a pirate that was pretty famous a few years ago, at least that's what Usopp tells me." Luffy said, not really concerned at all. Nami looked a little surprised at the name.

"Kuro? As in Kuro "The Thousand Plans"? That guy was a tough pirate, he was said to be able to plan a thousand moves ahead of the enemy. His bounty if I recall right was Sixteen Million!" Nami shouted. Thinking they were all going to die if they fought such a dangerous pirate. Luffy thought about that for a moment.

"That's a pretty good bounty for East Blue." Luffy said offhandedly. Zoro nodded in agreement. Nami thought it was concern. "That's right, it is! He'll kill us all if you fight him!" Nami said trying to talk sense into them.

"I wonder if my first bounty will be better than that shishishi!" Luffy said, completely ignoring Nami's concerns. Nami punched Luffy in the head, sending him face down into the dirt. Her teeth looking suspiciously like a certain sawshark fishman she hates very much.

"Yeah captain. It better be. Otherwise I may have to assume command." Zoro said, ignoring his captains predicament. Enraging Nami even further. Luffy got up brushed his clothes off and laughed.

"Shishishi! Yeah I can't be looking bad in front of my first mate, can I?" Nami just gave up. She couldn't win with these idiots.

"Well we're gonna fight Kuro and his crew tomorrow so they can't hurt Usopp's girlfriend! You gonna be ready Zoro? Nami, Usopp?" Zoro nodded, he was always ready for a fight. Nami looked affronted.

"Hell NO! I ain't fighting a bunch of blood thirsty pirates! I'll rob em though!" She shouted as her eyes turned into Beli signs. Usopp jumped back and turned to the male members of the crew.

"Does that happen often?" He asked. Pointing at Nami's eyes.

Luffy and Zoro nodded "Yeah when ever the witch thinks about money" Zoro was the first to answer. Nami tried to punch him again but Zoro saw it coming so he stepped aside. Nami growled at him for dodging what was in her opinion his rightful punishment. Luffy laughing loudly at the two arguing.

"Let's plan the battle already, you guys. It's gonna be dangerous. What do you guys do exactly? Usopp asked.

"I steal" Nami said.

"I cut" Zoro said.

"I stretch... And beat people up! Shishishi!" Luffy laughed.

"I hide!" Usopp said as though it was a great skill. They all turned to him and shouted.

"Not this time! You'll help. Its your town you want to protect right?" Usopp nodded, slightly ashamed of himself. Nami turned to Luffy.

* * *

The next morning the Straw-hats plus Usopp made it to the slope that led to the beach were the Black Cat Pirates were disembarking their ship with Nami and Usopp trailing behind. Zoro drew his blades and got himself ready for battle. Luffy lowered his hat, glaring at the men down on the beach.

"Black Cat Pirates. I'm Monkey D. Luffy. Future Pirate King! And I'm here to stop you from hurting Usopp's FRIENDS!" Luffy shouted.

*Chapter End*

I hope you enjoy. As always. Read/Review, Thanks!


	5. Chapter 5

Eiichiro Oda and Toei Animation Studios own One Piece Manga/Anime respectively. I'm honestly glad I don't own them. I am no match for Oda's greatness.

**The Dark King****'s Apprentice**

* * *

_Last Chapter Recap_

_The Straw-hats plus Usopp made it to the slope that led to the beach were the Black Cat Pirates were disembarking their ship with Nami and Usopp trailing behind. Zoro drew his blades and got himself ready for battle. Luffy lowered his hat, glaring at the men down on the beach._

"_Black Cat Pirates. I'm Monkey D. Luffy. Future Pirate King! And I'm here to stop you from hurting Usopp's FRIENDS!" Luffy shouted._

* * *

Jango sighed. He did not enjoy killing kids but his life was at stake here. He waved his hands forward ordering his men to charge, and they obeyed. Thoughtlessly to their own peril

Zoro raised his swords and got into his stance. When the crowd was upon him he shouted "**Tatsu Maki!**" Zoro became a spinning twister of pain and death as the pirates were flung back down the slope. Most too injured to continue, some would never recover. Jango looked at his injured men in horror.

'_If only one of these guys could do all of this then what about the others? What am I going to do if Kuro gets here first?' _Where the thoughts racing through the backwards mans mind. Jango called his remaining soldiers to him "Men! When I say Jango, you will all be 10 times stronger and immune to pain! "One, Two, Jango!" Jango shouted. The pirates muscles swelled and their eyes reddened. They all shouted and charged with renewed vigor.

"Hey Zoro I'll take care of these guys." Luffy ordered, Zoro nodded and stepped aside. Luffy started punching his fists out towards the incoming pirates. Left, then right and so one, till he called out "**Gomu Gomu no Gatling!**" and his fists suddenly seemed to disappear as they moved too quickly for those around to track them. The pirates on the other hand could feel their bones breaking, and their organs being ruptured as they were hit with the concussive force of a sea train. Luffy then walked back to his previous position.

Jango was in full blown panic mode, his remaining men were beaten. All he had left was himself and them.. _'I guess I have no choice now.'_ He thought.

"Nyaban Brothers! I need you out here now!" Jango called, and two odd men jumped out of the boats lodging area. One was rather tall and skinny, sporting bright green hair and effeminate features the other was large and obese wearing no shirt and had cat fangs and ears. The both sported dangerous looking metal claws on their fingers.

"Yes, Jango-san! What is it you need...?" They asked but then realized most of the crew was dead or unconscious.

"I need you to kill these bastards for attacking the crew! Watch out for the kid with the straw hat. He seems to be the most dangerous one." Jango orders.

"Aye Jango-san, we will take care of it!" They shouted in unison. The cat brothers recklessly charged at Zoro. Zoro prepared to meet them in combat but at the last second they switched tactics and split apart going around Zoro to attack Nami. Figuring that if they could take out a weaker one first it might make the stronger ones angry and careless. That did not work out so well. They were about to slash Nami with their claws when they heard a voice to their side shouting "**Gomu Gomu no Bazooka!**" The brothers were hit and they were thrown into the side of the cliff face. Nami let out a breath she did not know she was holding.

"Thank you Luffy." Nami said, honestly thankful for his interference. Luffy nodded.

"Nami, you and Usopp go to Zoro. Zoro cover these two. Alright?" the three nodded. Luffy then turned and gazed into the tree line.

"Come on out Butler I know you are watching there, there's no point in hiding when you can't hide from me!" Luffy called Kuro out.

Kuro stepped out from the tree line and had a look of rage on his face, he was carrying a large duffel bag. On his shoulder. He glared at Luffy, then at Jango.

"You ruined my plans Jango. What did I tell you would happen if you ruined my plans? Did you think I was joking? I know you know me better than that." Kuro said as he was pulling clawed gloves out of the bag and putting them on. "I guess I have no choice but to kill everyone here and take the Ojo-sama's money. No will. You will suffer Jango. I will see to it personally."

"Hold on a second there Butler. That can only happen if you get past me first." Luffy said. Kuro turned to Luffy.

"You say that like it won't be a simple task to kill you all." Kuro said in what he thought was an intimidating way. Luffy just burst out in laughter.

"Stop this Klahadore!" Kaya shouted. They all turned and seen Kaya holding a pistol in her shaking hands. "I found Merry, he told me everything! If you want my money! You can have my money! Just leave me, Usopp and the village be! There is no need for this senseless violence!" Kaya shouted as she walked onto the battlefield. Kuro turned to her. Usopp was in a panic seeing his friend in the area.

"Merry lived? Guess I've grown soft in these peaceful years." Kuro said.

"Kaya! Get out of here! He'll kill you!" Usopp begged her to leave. Kaya turned to Usopp with tears in her eyes and ran to him. Wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry for not believing you before Usopp-san! I'm so ashamed of myself!" She cried out begging forgiveness from her best friend.

"Look at the kiddies. Playing makeup. I wasn't interested in just your money Ojo-sama. I wanted your easy lifestyle as well. So just taking your money will do me no good you see. I need you to be dead and the villagers thinking you left it all to me." Kuro said, angering Usopp. Usopp pointed his slingshot at Kuro.

"Come any closer to her and I'll kill you myself Kuro!" Shouted Usopp showing a large degree of courage. Luffy smiled.

"Jango, get Ojo-sama to write the will and I might consider forgiving you, this once." Kuro stated.

"Usopp, get her out of here. Zoro cover their escape. Nami... Rob them blind!" Luffy called out. They all nodded. Nami was worried about Jango but that quickly resolved itself when Kuro ordered him to finish the mission with Kaya.

Kuro tried to stop Zoro from helping Kaya when Luffy stepped in front of him and shook his head.

"You aren't leaving here Butler. I can't have you hurting Usopp or his friends now can I?" Luffy asked in an amused tone.

Why are you here anyways? What's in it for you that you would throw your life away for these people.?" Kuro asked.

"You think I'm throwing my life away Butler? I'm not in any danger here at all. This won't even be a warm-up for me." Luffy said. Kuro sighed.

"Boy, you don't even know who I am. Do you? You really think I'm just a butler? I was a feared and notorious pirate till about three years ago. I've personally killed more Marines then I care to count. I've taken down entire ships full of Marines." Kuro rambled. Luffy was feeling bored and almost fell asleep.

"You're boring me... Fight or give up." Luffy commanded. Kuro growled.

"Disrespectful brat I will teach you." Kuro ran at Luffy and brought his clawed hand down to cut Luffy, but Luffy simply grabbed the offending appendage with one hand and used the free hand to punch Kuro in the gut. He let Kuro go and Kuro jumped back. Pondering how to go about this fight. He was not used to fighting people that could keep up with him.

"You seem strong, stronger than most I fight here in East Blue." Kuro said, taking Luffy more seriously. Luffy chuckled.

"Yeah I suppose I am. But that might be because I was raised in the New World, you have to be tough to survive there shishishi. I don't even need to try with someone like you." Luffy laughed, mocking Kuro.

'_Raised in the New World! This kid's gonna be tough. I have to go all out with him or he'll kill me!'_ Kuro thought. Kuro started rocking back and forth with his eyes closed and his clawed hands limp at his side. _'If I use "__**Stealth Foot**__" there will be no way in hell he can beat me. I'm the fastest man alive when I use that technique!' _thought the poor deluded fool.

There were suddenly panicked shouts from the remaining Black Cat pirates. "NO captain! Don't do it! We're still in range!" These were the general theme of the shouts, Kuro ignored them.

* * *

Near the start of Kuro's monologue.

Jango was trying to figure out how to get past Zoro to finish his task with the girl when thought of something. He smiled _'This man fell for my sleep hypnosis yesterday! I should be able to get him again!'_ He pulled out his chakram and spoke "When I say One, Two..." He heard Zoro cutting him off. "**Santoryu: Oni Giri!**" Jango felt nothing but pain has his chest area was sliced badly.

"You think I'll let you put me to sleep again weirdo. Not going to happen." Zoro said to the unconscious hypnotist. Zoro then turned to check out his captains fight. _'There were no more enemies after the girl so it should be fine.'_ he told himself.

* * *

Luffy watched as Kuro attacked his own men one after another, with growing rage. But it all changed when Kuro's claws chose Zoro as their next target. He knew Zoro was not up to this mans speed yet, so he would not be able to evade. Luffy calculated Kuro's trajectory and swung his foot in an incredibly fast kick calling out "**Rankyaku!**" the blade of wind shot right into Kuro's path forcing him to jump back. Zoro seen Kuro appear out of thin air when the blade flew in front him.

"Thanks captain! I couldn't even see that guy!" Zoro shouted, getting back from his captains fight.

"No problem Zoro!" Luffy said, then turned a heated glare to Kuro.

It was at this time that Nami got out of the ship empty handed. She approached Zoro and he turned to her.

"What happened? They had no treasure?" She nodded.

"They were broke. They must have needed this job just to survive. Sucks to be them." Zoro nodded and pointed at Luffy.

"He's pissed. Watch this." Zoro said with a smirk. Nami turned to watch the fight.

"Ok, the kid gloves are off old man. You think you are fast? I'll show you speed! **Gear Second**" Luffy shouted as he lowered himself into the horse stance with his his left hand on his knee and the right touching the ground. Suddenly Luffy's legs seemed to distort and bulge out. His body instantly became an angry redish pink and steaming as though it was cooking itself alive. Kuro prepared himself to counter this new move but was unprepared for what happened next. Luffy vanished from HIS sight.

Instantly Luffy appears in front of Kuro and slapped him across the battlefield. Kuro stood back up albeit more wobbly than he would have liked. He began looking for his opponent, only to feel a painfully strong punch hit him in the gut sending him flying yet again across the battlefield.

Kuro realized he was in a fight he couldn't win, this person was so fast that even he could not see him. So he decided to at least try to escape him. Getting to his feet as quickly as his battered body would allow he entered **Stealth Foot** again and tried to aim his steps towards town, where he would at least be able to take a hostage or two. But it was not to be. Soon as he started to flee Luffy appeared in front of him, his arm held forward as if he was aiming it at something then Luffy said "**Gomu Gomu no Jet Pistol!**" and Kuro knew no more as he flew back towards his boat smashing into the hull. Luffy relaxed and his skin returned to a normal tone.

Nami had never before seen such a one sided fight in her life. No, fight is not a correct term for what she had just seen. Slaughter might be more apt, even if Kuro lives, his pirating days are over. She would have to think about this.

"Let's go see Usopp and his little girlfriend, they are a few hundred feet that way" Luffy said pointing down the road. Zoro and Nami nodded, Nami no longer doubting Luffy's words as much.

* * *

Usopp and Kaya were running as fast as Kaya could. "Let's hide in these woods Kaya, we can't get too far away at this pace!" Usopp whispered. If there was a few things Usopp was good at, hiding was one of them.

"I'm sorry Usopp-san, I just can't run very fast." Kaya apologized. Usopp nodded in understanding.

"No, it's fine, we'll just have to make do as best we can." Usopp said as they traversed through the woods. They found a hollowed out tree and he told Kaya to get into the hole. She did not want to because they both couldn't hide then but he pushed her in and covered it up with a log. Usopp heard someone coming in their direction. He tried to hide behind a tree, holding his breath.

"Hey Usopp, Kaya! You guys can come out now. We beat Kuro and his pirates!" Luffy called out. Usopp ran out from behind the tree with a large smile on his face.

"You guys won!? That's so great!" He ran to Kaya's hiding spot and helped her out. "We're safe Kaya! My friends won!" He told her. She nodded happily.

"I invite you all back to my home to rest and recover, It's the least I can do for all you have done for us." Kaya told them. They all followed Kaya back to the mansion where they found a wounded but alive Merry.

* * *

The next day Kaya and a bandaged up Merry were leading the Straw-Hats down to the same beach they had their battle. All Kaya had told them was that there was a surprise waiting for them. They had been talking about a boat and their need for one at the dinner party the previous night so she decided that the boat Merry had been working on would be a good gift.

* * *

In a small house somewhere just outside the village of Syrup. Usopp was loading all of his valuable items into a bag, the only problem? The bag was far to small for all the things Usopp valued. It was now so over stuffed that it looked like it wouldn't fit through the door.

* * *

As they crested the hill leading to he beach they were in awe at the caravel ship waiting for them there. Luffy ran the rest of the way and jumped up onto the boat checking it out. Zoro was happy to finally have a boat he could train on. Nami was happy she would have more room to move around now.

The ship was brown with white railing, one mast with brown sails. The most notable feature was a lambs figurehead with a forward facing canon underneath it.

"This is a caravel ship, it is a bit old fashioned but I think it will serve your purposes for now. It's name is the "Going Merry" Merry said, no one had to guess where he go the name from. He began to instruct Luffy about how to control and steer the ship but Nami jumped between them.

"Don't tell him he'll forget in five minutes! Tell me I'm the navigator." So Merry told her how to guide the Going Merry. They all heard a weird yelling sound coming closer, they soon understood that the voice was calling for help.

"HELP ME! Someone STOP ME!" They heard Usopp shouting, they turned and seen a large ball rolling down the hill. Luffy jumped in front of it and shouted "**Gomu Gomu no Fussen!**" When Usopp hit Luffy he bounced back and hit the edge of the cliff.

"Ouch... That hurt Luffy-san. Did you have to stop me like that?" Usopp asked, groaning in pain.

"What was that? How did you turn into a balloon?" Kaya asked. It was a legitimate question after all. Luffy pulled his cheeks far too far for human skin and replied.

"I ate the **Gomu Gomu no Mi**, a devil fruit. I'm a Rubberman." Luffy answered. Kaya just nodded, still confused. Usopp was seen loading his over-sized bag into a small dingy that somehow no one had noticed.

"Well Guys! Thanks for everything you did for me and my village! I guess I'll be seeing you out there on the ocean some day!" Usopp said. The Straw-Hats looked at him funny for a second.

"Get up here Usopp! We fought together, you're our Nakama!" Luffy said. Zoro and Nami nodded with kind smiles on their faces. Usopp could hardly believe it.

"Captain Usopp!" He yelled as he ran to the ship. Luffy got a tick mark.

"I'm the captain! You can be second in command when Zoro and Nami are asleep!" Luffy shouted. Usopp looked down for a split second but laughed it off.

The Going Merry's sails unfurled and they started pulling away from the shore.

* * *

A day later on the Going Merry. Luffy had just made a Jolly Roger for the Going Merry to advertise their place in the world of piracy. But Luffy's drawing and painting skill was atrocious at best. The flag ended up looking like a modern art masterpiece. Zoro thought it might actually scare people away like that. Ussop approached Luffy.

"I'll take over, you need someone with artistic skills to do this!" He shouted as he pulled out a flag from the pile of blank black flags. He drew a perfectly good looking skull and crossbones. Except that it has a long nose and a slingshot behind it. Luffy bopped him on the head.

"We ain't the Usopp Pirates! Get it right!" Usopp rubbed his head and redrew it. Holding it up for all of them to see. The flag that would one day shake the wold and bring oppressors to their knees. The skull and crossbones with a straw hat. The crew cheered.

"Usopp can you do one across the mainsail?" Luffy asked, and Usopp nodded and got to work. An hour or so later the work was done and the crew admired Usopp's artistic skills.

* * *

A while later they were pretty bored sailing so Luffy called Zoro over to him on the main area of the boat. Luffy looked thoughtful for a second. Then he realized thinking too hard only gives him headaches.

"Zoro I wanna teach you something." Zoro nodded. _'If this man was taught by the likes of Rayleigh I would be a complete fool to deny his advice.'_ Zoro thought. Nami looked skeptical.

"What are you going to teach him? I haven't seen you use that sword yet. I thought you carried it for decoration." Luffy got an annoyed tick on his head.

"The sword was a gift to me from Shanks! I don't use it on nobodies." Luffy answered. Zoro chuckled at that.

"Then why did you use it on Morgan?" Luffy laughed.

"Oh that? I wanted to make him symmetrical. He was missing a right hand so I thought making him lose his left leg would balance him." Zoro busted out in a hearty laugh.

"I'm not a swordsman like Zoro here but there's some cool stuff I've been taught that he could use in his fights. I'll show you all right now." Luffy turned his back to Zoro and closed his eyes tightly.

"Zoro, attack me with your swords." Luffy ordered. Nami and Usopp panicked.

"Whoa hold on now, There's no need to go that far! We believe you!" Usopp yelled. He did not want to lose his new captain that fast. Nami just did not want to see someone die so foolishly.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. You'll see! Go ahead Zoro." Luffy said trying to reassure them.

Zoro swiped his Wado Ichimonji at Luffy's neck. Luffy ducked the attack shocking the two non combatants.

"Do more attacks, and faster Zoro." Luffy said, Zoro nodded and increased the pace and viciousness of his attacks. After a few moments though Zoro had seen the point of the demonstration and did not need to continue. Nami and Usopp were both floored by it. Without looking or even being able to see Luffy dodged at least one hundred sword slashes all at speeds Usopp and Nami could barely track.

"How do you do that?" They all asked in one way or another. Luffy laughed.

"Haki! It's a mystery power I was taught by my teacher Rayleigh. What I just used was the Haki of Observation, it lets you sense lifeforms around you and helps you predict attacks directed at you. There are three types I'll show you another one now. Zoro try to cut me, I won't dodge this time." Luffy said. Zoro obeyed.

Zoro raised his sword and swung it. "**Busoshoku: Koka!**" Luffy's arm turned obsidian black and shined like the same. He raised his arm into the path of the blade and to everyone's shock, there was no dismembered arm on the deck, there wasn't even a drop of blood to be seen. The blade stopped cold on Luffy's blackened skin as though Zoro had hit the hardest steel.

"That was Haki of Armament, it allows you to coat any part or even all of your body in an invisible layer of armor that would stop any and all attacks that are not also Haki enhanced."

"How long did it take you to learn all these skills?" Zoro asked. Luffy thought for a second.

"Hmm maybe two and a half years, but I was a kid back then. It might not take as long with you guys. Who ever wants to learn it at least." Luffy answered.

"There is one more, but it can't be learned, you have to be born with it, and it's like one in a million odds from what Old Man Rayleigh told me. It's called Haki of the Conqueror. It's the mystery power I use to knock people out without touching them." Luffy said.

"Can you show us that one Luffy?" Nami asked, she was very curious about how he did that trick. Luffy thought about it and decided to try it. _'What's the worst that could happen?'_ Luffy thought. Luffy lowered his hat over his eyes and the personality shift was immediately noticed. Then there was a wave of something only Usopp vaguely recognized. But this was on a whole other level. Everyone fell to their knees and began panting, their eyes wide in terror at some perceived threat sweat pouring down their brows. When it finally let up they all took deep gulps of air and slowly climbed back to their feet.

"Wow... That. That was just intense. Was that as strong as it can get?" Nami asked as she wiped some sweat off her forehead. Luffy laughed at the silliness of the question.

"No, not even close. If I wanted, I could put you all into a coma for weeks." Luffy said with cold brutal honesty. They were all quite shocked at this statement. Nami more than most.

'_He can hospitalize people by simply looking at them!? That is a terrible power. Good thing he seems like an ok person.'_ Nami thought. Nami considered learning the Observation Haki so that she could evade Arlong if necessary later.

"How do you learn that observation one you did... It looks interesting to me." Luffy nodded.

"You have to meditate a lot. The old man told me this one was one of the most spiritual of the Haki's it requires a clear mind to use it." Nami nodded she now understood why Luffy told Zoro to meditate on Gecko Island.

"Can you teach me Luffy? I would like to learn this stuff as well." Nami asked. Luffy smiled brightly.

"Sure! It will be painful though, it's not just meditation. It will involve dodging things you can't see. Are you willing to take some pain to gain the power?" Luffy asked. Nami considered her options._ 'If I can learn this I might be able to beat Arlong myself some day. But it will take years I think.'_ She thought to herself. But she eventually nodded her acceptance of eventual pain for the long term gain.

"Yes, if it is what I need to do to learn. I will try to take it. Thank you Luffy." Nami said, sincerely.

"Ok! Since Zoro is at ease with meditation. He will learn this quicker. He can probably move on to the dodging part already! So Nami go to the far end of the ship and relax. You need to close off your mind and concentrate only on sensing the life around you. It will take a while. So don't get impatient." Luffy said.

"Ok Zoro I want you to blindfold yourself and take a seat in the usual mediation position." Luffy ordered. Zoro nodded and used his bandanna to wrap his eyes and took a seat. Luffy got a broom from a store room and approached Zoro. And after a few second of trying not to laugh at what was about to happen. He took a lazy swing. Zoro did nothing to indicate he sensed it coming. Thump the handle smacked Zoro in the back of the head.

"OW! Goddamn it! That hurts!" Zoro shouted. Luffy couldn't contain it. He finally gets to dish out what he took for all those months. He's gonna enjoy this.

"No pain no gain Zoro! You gotta sense it coming, anticipate it. You think it hurts from me? Imagine it from Old Man Rayleigh!" Luffy laughed. Zoro nodded.

"I'm sorry captain I won't complain any more." Luffy smiled, Zoro was a good trainee. Usopp watched, confused why someone would willingly put themselves through such pain. As Zoro continually got hit. He walked over to the canons and started loading one, wanting to test their aim. He found a large outcropping of rock a few hundred yards off the starboard side and aiming the canon he fired. His aim was true and it hit the rocks, causing a minor explosion. Everyone yelled at him except Luffy who thought the explosion was cool.

About 15 minutes later a tired looking man jumped aboard the Going merry to find three men and a woman all either meditating, cleaning, or beating the shit out of the male meditating. Confused he was but he was more mad than anything else.

"How dare you filthy pirates try to kill me and my partner Yosaku! I'll get vengeance!" The man drew his sword and approached Luffy. Zoro jumped up and spoke.

"Johnny is that you?" Zoro asked, Johnny gasped and turned to Zoro.

"Zoro-aniki! You are on a pirate ship? Did they capture you? That man was beating you, it looked painful!" Zoro laughed,

"No it's just training, and I became a pirate. No bounty yet though. Where is your partner Yosaku?" Zoro asked after chuckling at the torture comment. Johnny's attitude changed to panicked worry as he led them to the side of the boat and pulled Yasoku up to the deck.

"He dying Zoro-aniki! A few days ago he suddenly fell ill, he grew pale, started loosing teeth and then lost consciousness! I have no idea why!" Johnny said, crying over his friend. Nami sighed.

"I had taken him to a small rocky outcropping for him to rest on but then your ship attacked us!" Johnny said. Usopp cringed in realization that he may have killed an innocent man.

"Are you stupid?" Nami asked as she walked up to the rest of them. They all looked at her questioningly. She sighed again. "It's scurvy. How can anyone who sails not know about scurvy? This happens when you are out at sea for long periods and do not get enough Vitamin C. Usopp, go to the kitchens and get some tangerines." Nami said, Usopp complained.

"Why does it gotta be me?" Usopp was answered with a large bump on the head and his face hitting the hard wood. "Just do as I say Usopp!" Usopp nodded and ran off like a scolded dog.

Moments later Usopp came out with his arms full of the citrus fruit Nami requested (Read demanded). Nami began cutting them open and squeezing the juice of the tangerine into the sick mans mouth. After a few moments the Yasoku's eyes lit up and he jumped to his feet. Johnny was ecstatic. He had his friend back. They were dancing together when Nami charged in and punched Yasoku in the head bringing him back down to the decking.

"It's not that fast!" She screamed with shark-like teeth. "Take him to the mens quarters, he should rest for a few days getting a lot of vitamin C." They carried Yasoku to his temporary bed and returned to the deck. Nami turned to the rest of the crew.

"We are going to need a cook if you plan to head to the Grand Line. Otherwise we could all come down with diseases like that." Luffy nodded. Johnny spoke up.

"If it's a sea cook you need then you need look no further than the Baratie, it's the most famous sea restaurant in all the blues. All the cooks there know how to fight as well, because of the number of hostile pirates that come through on their way to the Grand Line." Luffy nodded.

"Off to the Baratie then! Where is it Johnny?" Luffy asked, and Johnny pointed in the direction of North-North East. "Yosh! Let's go Nami!"

* * *

Thank you. Please Review!


	6. Chapter 6

Eiichiro Oda and Toei Animation Studios own One Piece Manga/Anime respectively. I'm honestly glad I don't own them. I am no match for Oda's greatness.

**The Dark King's Apprentice**

_Last Chapter Recap_

"_If it's a sea cook you need then you need look no further than the Baratie, it's the most famous sea restaurant in all the blues. All the cooks there know how to fight as well, because of the number of hostile pirates that come through on their way to the Grand Line." Luffy nodded._

"_Off to the Baratie then! Where is it Johnny?" Luffy asked, and Johnny pointed in the direction of North-North East. "Yosh! Let's go Nami!"_

* * *

On the deck of the Going Merry we find the swordsman and the captain of the crew clashing, the former using three swords and the latter using his single sword. Zoro was fighting with intense ferocity and it showed on his face, as sweat poured down his brow. Sparks flew across the deck as the other crew members watched with varying shades of disbelief.

In all the weeks that Nami has been sailing with these pirates, she was losing her sense of what was possible for a human to do. She subtly glanced at the wanted poster for Arlong that she had kept with her for years. She thought about Luffy's abilities to use haki and fly (**geppou**). She never seen Arlong do anything like that at all, and Luffy claims to have been taught by incredibly powerful men.

"**Santoryu: Oni Giri!"** Zoro launched himself at Luffy with his go to attack. Luffy casually blocked the three sword attack with his one blade. Zoro and Luffy continued their training for several more minutes while Johnny and Yasaku cheered their hero on, thinking he had a chance at beating the captain.

"You can dooooo it! Zoro-Aniki!" Yosaku shouted. "Cut his fucking head off Zoro-Aniki!" Johnny shouted.

Luffy soru'ed behind Zoro faster than anyone watching could see and took a shot at the Zoro's head. Zoro without thinking rolled to the side before realizing that he actually seen the attack coming from behind him before it happened. Zoro got back to his feet re-sheathed his swords and turned to his captain.

"Captain, I think I just had my first experience in observation haki. I seen your attack coming from behind me, before it even happened. Is that how it is?" Zoro asked. Luffy nodded.

"Yeah it seems you just awoke your Observation Haki, now all need is practice." Luffy put his sword away and approached the helm. Zoro went back to his weights.

"So Nami, how long till we get to the sea restaurant? I'm getting hungry!" Zoro asked, excitedly. Nami shook her head in amusement.

"Soon Luffy, we should be able to see it soon." Luffy cheered, but suddenly became alert, looking towards the stern of the ship. There was a marine ship approaching the starboard side of the going merry. A man of average height and build, with pink hair and something like brass knuckles integrated into his fists introduced himself.

"I've never seen that Jolly Roger before? I'm marine Lieutenant, 'Iron Fist' Fullbody. Who is your captain!?" The now identified lieutenant shouted. Luffy faced the man proudly. "I'm the captain of the Straw-hat pirates. We just created our Jolly-Roger."

The lieutenant scrutinized the man for a moment before a beautiful woman grasped his arm and gestured towards the restaurant. Fullbody nodded.

"Well I don't really care who you are or how long you've been pirates. I have a date to get to." Turning to his men he said "These guys are an eyesore, sink em." while holding a thumbs down. His men nodded and started loading the cannons as he boarded a small landing vessel.

"Usopp, give me a few of your lead shots." Luffy ordered while holing his hands out towards his sniper. Usopp complied curiously. "I'm gonna show you something you could do some day! Shishishi" Luffy said while laughing. As the men fired the cannons at the Going Merry Luffy charged the lead shots with some armament Haki and threw them at the cannon balls causing them to explode midair. Usopp was shocked along with everyone else there.

"I would not load that cannon again marines... Unless you want sink you?" Luffy said, giving off a small wave of Conquerors Haki. The marines nodded frantically.

The crew of the Straw-Hat Pirates entered the Baratie and took their seats at a large table. They were having a good time waiting to be served when the marine, Fullbody rudely approached their table.

"What do you filthy pirates think you are doing here? I ordered your ship sunk!" Fullbody asked.

"Just because you ordered our ship suck, doesn't mean we are gonna let you sink it... We like The Going Merry floating, thank you very much." Luffy said while laughing at Fullbody. Fullbody did not take too kindly to the mocking. Raising his hand to crush the tiny pirate. When a black boot hit him in the face sending him flying across the dinning hall.

"There will be no attacking customers!" The man said (rather hypocritically I might add.) He had blond hair covering his left eye, he wore a clean black suit, with a blue under shirt. He had a cigarette in his mouth. Turning to the customers he bowed. "My name is Sanji, Assistant Head Chef. How may I help you?' he asked. Luffy and Zorro demanded meat and beer. Usopp asked for fish. When Sanji got to Nami his visible eye became a heart and he fell to one knee.

"May I take your order mademoiselle?!" the cook said with a heart in his visible eye. Nami smirked.

"I would like some sweet desserts but I'm not sure if I have enough how about you let me have mind for free?" she asked fluttering her eyes at the ero-cook.

"Of course my fair lady! These bastards can pay for your meal." Sanji pointed at the other Straw-Hat Pirates.

"That's unfair! Sexual discrimination! I'll sue you!" Usopp yelled. Sanji looked unconcerned.

"Good Luck with dealing with the world government, shitty pirate." Sanji said as he took their orders. When Sanji left Fullbody returned, sporting a rather painful looking black eye.

"I'll take you ALL to the nearest Marine base you damned pirates!" as he brought his fist down towards the seated Straw-Hat captains head, Luffy raised his hand and caught the approaching fist. Giving it a rather 'gentle' squeeze he brought the marine down to his knees crying in pain.

"Let me go! You're breaking my hand!" He begged. Luffy looked unconcerned. Putting a little more pressure he felt a few of the mans fingers break.

"Am I really supposed to care about breaking a marines hand?" Luffy asked, he lost his patience with this bastard trying to ruin his meal time. Finally Luffy let the man go. "Why don't you get out of here little marine I don't think you are ready to mess with us." Luffy added. Fullbody nodded, cradling his broken hand and ran away, nearly leaving his soon to be ex-girlfriend behind. Luffy and Zoro had a good laugh at the man.

As the Straw-Hat's waited for their food a sickly looking man wearing a gray track outfit including beanie cap, entered the Baratie. Found a table and demanded to be fed. When a large chef that was heavily built approached him.

"Hello customer! My name is Patty, chef at the Baratie sea restaurant. Do you have any money to pay for your food?" The now named, Patty asked him. The man pointed a pistol at his head.

"Do you take lead?" The man asked. Patty smiled wickedly before raising both arms and smashing the man, table and all, then proceeded to throw the man out of the restaurant. Near the kitchen area the head chef of the restaurant 'Red Leg' Zeff shook his head in disappointment at his chefs actions. Sanji left the restaurant through a side-door with a plate full food. Luffy seen this and decided to follow him.

Sanji placed the food in front of the prone pirate and waited for him to start eating. But the man wanted no part of Sanji's charity.

"I won't be looked down on! I refuse your pity." The man said nearly breaking down in tears. Sanji sighed.

"Don't be so tough, just eat already. To me any hungry person is a customer." Sanji said.

"I have no money to pay for it..." The man said staring at the food hungrily. Sanji looked up at the sky.

"The vast ocean can be very cruel. It's awful not to have any food or water. I understand starving people more than just about anyone. I don't care if you wanna die with dignity. But if you eat, you could at least look forward to another tomorrow, right?" Sanji said, giving the man a friendly smile.

Apparently that was all it took to break the mans pride and he began digging into his meal, thanking Sanji profusely between bites. Luffy had seen enough, he new this man would be his cook. Luffy walked over to Sanji.

"Hey Sanji-san! Why don't you join my crew and sail the oceans with us!" Luffy asked while flashing Sanji the infamous D. grin. Sanji shook his head.

"I'll have to pass. I have debts to pay to the owner of this restaurant and I can't pay them if I'm out at sea." Luffy grinned.

"I refuse!" Luffy shouted.

"You refuse? You refuse what?" Sanji asked.

"I refuse your refusal!" Luffy said, as if it was a perfectly normal response.

"IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT!" Sanji shouted, with sharp teeth and exposed eye on fire. The unnamed pirate stood up between the two men to stop the arguing.

"Excuse me, you said you are a pirate yes?" Luffy nodded, wondering what this guy was getting at.

"My name's Gin, from the Krieg armada. What's your goal?" The now named Gin asked. Luffy smiled wide.

"Pirate King! The One Piece is my goal." Luffy stated proudly. Gin shook his head.

"You should quit... Don't waste your life going to the Grand Line, there is plenty to see here in East Blue. My captain had over fifty ships and we were all but wiped out in a day!" Gin said, hoping to stop the young man from marching to his own death.

"What the hell happened to you guys? Losing fifty ships in a day is pretty stupid even by my standards Shishishi!" Luffy laughed. Gin growled in anger.

"We ran into a monster of the seas! He swung a black blade as large as he was, he cleaved our ships in half with a single swing of that demon blade! There is no way that he was a mortal man!" Gin shouted. Not liking having his crews strength put in question. Luffy broke out in a belly hurting laugh.

"You shishishi ran into shishi Dracule Mihawk! On your first day in the Grand Line?! Talk about a horrible start!" Luffy said while trying to stop laughing. Gin looked shocked.

"Dracule Mihawk? Who is that? You know who attacked us?!" Gin asked. Luffy nodded in the affirmative.

"Dracule Mihawk is a Shichibukai, He's the strongest swordsman in the world to! You guys probably interrupted his nap shishishi!" Gin looked appauled! They had their dreams shattered because they interrupted a mans nap?!

"Hey! Eggplant get your ass back to work!" Zeff shouted from the kitchens. Gin thanked Sanji for the food and took off in a stolen dingy.

* * *

The next day we find the Zoro was training on the ship, Usopp was working on his inventions in his room, Nami was stalking Luffy... yes, she was trying to get Luffy alone to make a deal with him. She found him watching the chefs cooking food in the kitchens.

"Luffy, can I talk to you in private please?" Luffy turned to Nami and nodded following her to an unoccupied room. Luffy waited for Nami to tell him what she needed. Nami was fidgeting as she pulled out Arlongs wanted poster. Taking a deep breath she held the poster out for Luffy to take.

"I... I want to hire you to kill this man for me! Can you do it?!" She asks, gaining an urgent and desperate tone to her voice. Luffy takes the poster and reads it.

"Arlong eh? This is what's been bothering you all this time?" Luffy asked, Nami nodded sniffing slightly.

"I'll pay you! One Hundred Million beri!" She closed her eyes waiting for the denial. No sane man would fight a fishman after all, they are the real monsters in this world. What she did not expect however, was for a pair of strong arms to wrap around her and pull her into a strong but gentle hug.

"Nami. You don't have to pay me anything. We are nakama, if this man is your enemy, then he is my enemy. No he is the Straw-Hat Pirates Enemy!" Luffy said, gradually getting louder until he was shouting. Nami could no longer contain her emotions and burst out into tears crying into Luffy's shoulder. Luffy simply rubbed her back letting her shed the years of pent of grief and frustration.

* * *

Not long after Nami and Luffy entered the room there was a loud scream from one of the patrons of the restaurant. "It's the Don Krieg Pirates! Look that's their Jolly-Roger! The Hourglass means your time has run out!" He shouted. Many of the dinners started to evacuate the restaurant. Most not even bothering to finish their food or pay.

Zoro glanced out the window and scoffed. The ship was a mess, nearly looked like a ghost ship. The sails were in tatters, the hull had large scars all over it. Broken rails all along the deck. It was a wonder if was still floating. Usopp was in near panic mode, it was so bad that Zoro Knocked him face first into the floor just to get him to shut up.

Several minutes of Usopp complaining later Gin entered with a rather large man leaning on his shoulder for support. They got to the center of fell to their knees in submission.

"Please we are starving, we haven't eaten in days! We have money, we can pay for food!" They begged. The chefs realizing they are relatively safe started laughing at the downed pirates.

HAHAHA! Like hell we'll give you food! You'll betray us like you always do Don Krieg! Patty shouted while still keeping a safe distance between him and the notorious pirates. Luffy who returned with Nami moments earlier watched the scene unfold, he did notice Sanji entering the kitchens though.

Minutes of mocking and name calling later, Sanji came out of the kitchen with two steaming plates of food and placed them in front of the starved pirates. "Eat up." he said.

"Sanji! What do you think you're doing! He's a liar!" Patty shouted.

"Sanji Duck! Luffy shouted, and for some reason Sanji obeyed. An arm sailed though the air that Sanji's neck had recently occupied, Sanji jumped away shocked at the sneak attack. He turned to Luffy.

"Thank you Straw-Hat." Sanji said. Luffy nodded.

"No problem Sanji, I can't let my chef get hurt now can I?" Luffy said.

"I never agreed to that!" Sanji shouted.

"Why did you interfere Straw-Hat brat!?" Krieg shouted. Luffy scoffed at the man.

"I don't have to answer a weakling like you." Luffy said, causing everyone except Zoro to gasp in shock. Krieg growled in rage.

"I'll get back to you soon enough punk! Just you wait." He turned to the chefs.

"You know, I like this ship. Give me food for one hundred men, and this ship, and I will spare your lives. Refuse and I'll kill you all and take it anyways!" Krieg shouted, showing his bloodlust. Just as Zeff was going to the kitchens Patty appeared with a Bazooka he had hidden away for just such occasions.

"Hey Krieg, you like that meal?! How about some dessert!" he shouted as he fired the missile at Krieg, it hit right on the money and there was a large explosion that knocked several customers and weaker chefs on their asses. The chefs were dancing around thinking that Patty had finished the pirates. When the smoke cleared Krieg was standing there unscathed with most of his shirt and coat destroyed. He had armor covering his chest and arms that looked strong enough to stop most weapon damage. He also had diamond plated gloves. Nami's eyes were now beri signs.

"Captain! I want those gloves!" Nami squealed in joy at the thought of those gems. Luffy smirked. Krieg looked over at the pirate that saved Sanji from his wrath.

"What makes you think you can have these gloves? It's not like you can take them from me little girl." Krieg said, causing Nami to bristle in anger. Luffy put his hand on her shoulder, instantly calming her rage.

"Don't worry Nami, this dogs all bark and no bite. If you want those gloves then it's my job to get them for you!" Luffy said, showing no concern about the armada captains growing rage at being ignored.

Moments later Zeff came out of the kitchen with a ridiculously large bag over his shoulder. He dropped the bag in front of Krieg.

"This is food for a hundred men, take it and begone from here." Zeff said. He was met with shouts of "No Zeff-san" or "NO Head Chef Zeff!" This caused the armada captain to take a closer look at the ragged old cook.

"You, You're "Red Leg" Zeff aren't you? Krieg asked. Zeff nodded.

Yeah, what you want? An Autograph?" Zeff asked, chuckling at his own joke. Krieg was in no mood for jokes and backhanded Zeff to the shock of all the other chefs.

"No you old fool! You survived on the grand line for at least a year, you must have kept a logbook. I want that logbook, and this restaurant. It'll be easy to sneak up on unsuspecting ships if I use this ship..." Krieg said. Zeff shook his head in the negative.

"I will not be giving you any logs from my time as captain of the Cook Pirates, they are priceless mementos of my crew." Zeff said, not concerned at all with the threats of a Grand Line dropout. Krieg grabbed Zeff by the throat and picked him up.

"I don't give a damn about your mementos, I want your logbook! I had the men, the power, and the ships! All I lacked was planning and knowledge! With your logbook I can become Pirate King!" Suddenly a rubber fist smashed into Kriegs face sending him sprawling across the dinning hall.

"No one's gonna be Pirate King except me! So don't you go claiming the title old man!" Luffy shouted. Krieg got up, wiping a small amount of blood away from his mouth. Glaring at the kid. _'Damn this kid hits like a sea train!'_

"I'll deal with you momentarily Straw-Hat! Soon as my men have been fed!" Krieg angrily shouted. Luffy chucked.

"Yeah, because you're scared to fight me like a man here and now... Go ahead, run to your men little coward!" Luffy said, with an cocky smirk on his face. Nami and Usopp looked a little worried, Zoro looked bored.

"Hey old man" Luffy gestured to Zeff. Zeff grunted in annoyance at the moniker.

"What you want brat? Can't you see I got stuff on my mind here?" Zeff nearly shouted.

"I got a deal for ya... How about me and my crew take care of Krieg and his crew, and you stock our ship with food and we take that cook off your hands?" Luffy asked while pointing at Sanji. Sanji was about to reply with an angry retort when Zeff spoke for him.

"Sure, you got a deal kid." Sanji sputtered in disbelief.

"What the hell you old fool!? You can't just trade me off like cheap produce!" Sanji shouted.

"Little eggplant, it's time for you to go. You've cooped yourself up in this place long enough! You're a young man it's time for you to sow your oats as the say!" Zeff said as he stared at his adopted son. Sanji felt tears welling up at the old mans words, officially giving him permission to seek his dream. The All Blue.

"Captain, am I gonna get to fight sometime soon?" Zoro asked. Luffy perked up feeling an incredibly powerful presence enter his observation range.

"Someone extremely powerful is here. Be ready for a fight Zoro, I'm not even sure if I can take this new guy, his haki presence is huge!" Luffy said, showing some signs of excitement. Suddenly they all heard a large explosion and the Baratie shook as the waves smashed against its hull. The crew all ran to the front of the restaurant to look outside. What they saw shocked most of them. The Krieg ship was sliced clean in half.

Approaching the wreckage was a small eerie boat the size and general shape of a coffin, with green glowing candles and a tall man seated in the center. The man wore a long red and black trench coat and a wide-brimmed black hat decorated with a large plume, no shirt showing off an impressive physique and plain purple pants. The ensemble is topped off by what looked to be a rather large cross on his back. But Luffy and Zoro new better, this was a sword. The most powerful sword in the world. **Yoru.**

One of the Krieg pirates foolishly fired on the man. Mihawk simply drew **Yoru** and deflected the projectiles with effortless ease. "What?! How did I miss?" the fool asked.

"You didn't miss, he simply deflected your bullets with his blade. Isn't that right, Mihawk?" Zoro asked as he parted the fodder pirates so that he could get closer to Mihawk. Mihawk nodded.

"A sword wielded without skill, is naught but an iron bar." Mihawk answered. Zoro agreed.

"I've been sailing the seas to face you. How about we duel for the title of strongest?" Zoro demanded. Mihawk sighed as he jumped from his boat to the wreckage of Kriegs ship.

"If you were truly a great swordsman you would be able to tell that the gap between us is too great... At the moment. I sense that you have just now started to realize the greater world." Mihawk said, making Zoro raise an eyebrow.

Zoro drew his blades placing **Wado Ichimonji** in his mouth, his nameless blades at his side. Mihawk took his necklace off, showing that it was actually a small dagger disguised as a Cross pendant. Zoro was disgusted by this apparent disrespect.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Zoro said.

"I'm not a fool that uses his all to hunt rabbits... Though you may have a limited amount of fame here, this is still the weakest of all the seas, the East Blue. Unfortunately I don't have anything smaller than this." Mihawk said, with a cocky grin. Zoro did not like this at all.

"Quit mocking me! You'll regret it when you're dead!" Zoro charged Mihawk with his blades ready. As he neared his foe he prepared his attack.

"Go Zoro-Aniki!" "No one can beat Zoro-Aniki!" Johnny and Yosaku shouted from the sidelines.

"**Santoryu: Oni Giri"** Zoro's blades flashed forward thirsty for blood. Zoro was in for a shock though when all three of his blades stopped cold against Mihawk's small knife. _'What the hell? Our skill can't be this different!?'_ Zoro jumped back creating some space then charged back in hacking and slashing with all the speed and strength his training gave him. Mihawk swung the dagger at Zoro in a casual attack throwing Zoro to the ground. Zoro got up slightly winded from the short exchange.

"I did not come all this way to be defeated by a toy!" Zoro shouted as he increased the speed and intensity of his swords slashes. When he over reached a swing Mihawk dodged causing Zoro to trip. Mihawk gave him a swift chop to the back of the neck, attempting to end the duel.

__Flashback__

_Zoro and Kuina are dueling under the moonlight, the first duel where Zoro used real blades. As with most of his duels with Kuina it was brutally short, with Zoro on his back and Kuina's sword at his throat. Kuina started crying because her father had told her that she could not be the best swordsman because she was a woman. Shortly after this duel, Kuina had passed away, due to falling down stairs... Her father allowed Zoro to carry her will in the form of __**Wado Ichimonji**__, her sword. One of the 21 high grade swords._

__Flashback end.__

Zoro came back to reality and climbed back to his feet. Zoro prepared for an attack **"Santoryu: Tora Gari!"** But when he called it out his observation haki predicted that he would be stabbed in the chest. So he jumped back at the last second gasping for breath. Mihawk raised an eyebrow at the move.

"Why did you leap back at the last second? Were you scared of dying?" Mihawk asked. Zoro glared and shook his head.

"No! I sensed you were going to stab me in the chest! Of course I would try to avoid that!" Zoro responded. Mihawk flashed a sinister grin and flashed forward at speed Zoro could not see thrusting the blade into his chest regardless of his haki's warnings.

"Well it appears it happened anyway, doesn't it swordsman? Why do you not back up? If this blade goes any deeper then it will hit your heart and you will die." Zoro coughed some blood up before smiling.

I don't know... I feel that if I back up even an inch all the promises, oaths, and deals I've made in my life would be meaningless. I would never be able to face you again if that were the case..." Mihawk seemed curious.

"Even if it means death?" He asked. Zoro nodded.

"Death would be better!" Zoro said without an ounce of hesitation. Mihawk was shocked. _'Such strong will!'_ Mihawk pulled the dagger back and jumped backwards away from Zoro. He sheathed his small dagger putting it away.

"Kid, announce your name." Mihawk demanded. Zoro prepared his swords for his next attack but held fast.

"Roronoa Zoro!" He shouted.

"I'll remember it! It's been a while since I've seen such a strong will, as a reward I'll use my real sword!" Mihawk said as he drew his black blade **Yoru** from its place on his back for the first time in this duel.

"I appreciate the gesture." Zoro said, then he charged forward calling out his final attack of possibly the last fight of his life. "**Santoryu Ogi: Sanzen Sekai!"** As the two swordsman clashed the ended up on opposite sides of the wreckage that they started at. Zoro's unnamed swords both shattered from the clash. And blood sprayed from his wounded chest. _'I lost... I never even thought it would be possible.'_ He sheathed **Wado Ichimonji** and turned to face his better with his arms spread wide. Mihawk was shocked by this gesture.

"What are you doing, Roronoa Zoro?" He asked. Zoro grinned.

"A wound on the back is a swordsman's shame!" And Mihawk charged forward to end the duel in one final slash when he was suddenly bombarded by an intense Conquerors Haki, it was intense enough to cause him to weaken his swing and not cut too deeply into Zoro's chest. Zoro was still deeply wounded but was able to hold onto **Wado Ichimonji** and only fall to his knees. _'What was that? Who around here is strong enough to have such a powerful haki?'_ Mihawk looked around until he laid his eyes on a familiar straw-hat. The man wearing it was glaring at him.

"Where did you get that straw-hat, boy?" Mihawk asked. Luffy placed his hand protectively on his hat.

"Shanks gave it to me, when I told him that I would be Pirate King, and have a crew stronger than his!" Luffy answered. Mihawk nodded.

"I thought as much, I knew it was familiar." Mihawk shot back.

"Zoro! Get back here and get bandaged up! Nami, I want to show you right now that you can trust me to protect you! You Mihawk, how about you and me have a little spar!?" Luffy shouted, leaking Conquering Haki across the battlefield. Knocking out many of the weaker pirates and chefs.

* * *

Stern = Rear of a ship.

Starboard = Right side of a ship.

Santoryu: Oni Giri = Three Sword Style: Demon Slash

Santoryu: Tora Gari = Three Sword Style: Tiger Hunt

Santoryu Ogi: Sanzen Sekai = Three-Sword Style Secret Technique: Three Thousand Worlds

Wado Ichimonji = Straight Road of the Harmony

Yoru = Night


	7. Chapter 7

Eiichiro Oda and Toei Animation Studios own One Piece Manga/Anime respectively. I'm honestly glad I don't own them. I am no match for Oda's greatness.

**The Dark King's Apprentice**

* * *

_"_Zoro! Get back here and get bandaged up! Nami, I want to show you right now that you can trust me to protect you! You Mihawk, how about you and me have a little spar!? Luffy shouted, leaking Conquering Haki across the battlefield. Knocking out many of the weaker pirates and chefs.__

* * *

"What the hell is with this guy!?" Sanji asked feeling light headed from the excess haki Luffy was leaking out in anticipation of his fight.

"This man is a real pirate, Someone who's seen hell and lived to tell the tale." Zeff said, barely effected by the level of haki he was feeling. But he did have to wipe a few beads of sweat from his brow.

Nami glued her eyes onto Luffy, this is the man that said he can beat Arlong the Saw and she wants to see proof. _'please don't be a mistake girl! Cocoyashi Village can't afford a mistake!'_ she thought desperately.

Zoro sat up as they wrapped his chest, eyes glued on the men about to battle. _'You better not kill him Luffy! He's mine to defeat!'_ Zoro shouted in his head. Johnny and Yosaku were torn between treating Zoro and watching the battle.

_'I'm being ignored... I'm being ignored!'_ Krieg chanted in his mind like a mantra.

Gin was just glad that he or his captain haven't been killed by Mihawk or this insane Straw-Hat kid yet.

Luffy pulled out his scimitar from his waist sash. Luffy whispered **"Busoshoku: Koka"** channeling armament Haki down the length of the blade he grinned at Mihawk.

"This blade was given to me by your rival, Shanks! Besides Shanks, you'll be the first real challenge I've tested this word on yet!" Luffy said. Swinging the sword back and forth a few times, limbering up.

"It looks like a fine sword, Red Hair wouldn't give you an inferior blade." Mihawk said as he readied **Yoru**.

Luffy swung his sword arm out causing his rubbery flesh to ripple, this in turn caused his skin to start smoking, and turn a violent pink. Looking like he was suffering a mean sun burn.

"This is my **Gear Second**. It enhances all my combat skills, power, speed, reaction time, all of it. Ready yourself!" Luffy vanished in a blisteringly fast **Soru**. Appearing beside Mihawk mid swing. Mihawk quickly brought **Yoru** up to block the blade. Their swords locked in a battle of strength.

"I don't really have any fancy moves like Zoro, you see I'm not a swordsman, but I can still do a few things that would make Zoro jealous!" Luffy jumped back and swung his sword several times at Mihawk firing off blades of wind from the edge, similar to a **Rankyaku**.

Mihawk was forced to dodge and parry the wind blades, a few coming within inches of his clothes. Mihawk **Soru**'ed behind Luffy used a horizontal slash at Luffy's waist. Luffy jumped, while in the air Mihawk tried to catch him where he should be unable to evade but Luffy used **Geppou** to move to the opposite end of the wreckage.

"You fight well for someone who claims not to be a swordsman Monkey D. Luffy." Mihawk said, Luffy laughed.

"Shishishi, well I did learn a few tricks from the best right?" Luffy flung his sword wielding hand at Mihawk surprising him slightly, forcing him to jump to the side. He was preparing to cut Straw-Hat's hand off at the wrist, when Luffy stabbed his sword into the ground, using it as an anchor pulled himself forward to strike at Mihawk with his fist. The tactic was so out of left field that Mihawk actually had to block the fist with the flat side of his sword, still the force was enough to send Mihawk sliding back several yards. Mihawk sighed and turned to face Luffy who was standing shaking his fist in apparent pain after having punched a Haki coated slab of steel.

Mihawk raised his sword and brought it down in a heavy swing, sending a heavy blade of wind at Luffy, Luffy pumped more armament haki into his blade and swung it in front of the blade of wind fighting it with all his strength. Moments later he won but not without earning a moderately painful slash to his shoulder. Grunting in pain.

"You gotta be so rough Hawkeye? I thought we were just friendly spar here?" Luffy asked, grinning at the swordsman. Luffy put his sword away and started pumping more haki to his arms and legs.

"**Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"** Luffy shouted, sending his blackened fist flying at near supersonic speeds towards the shichibukai, Hawkeye raised his sword to block as he did there was a large booming sound and the air seemed to crack with the pressure as two conquerors of the sea clashed in glorious combat.

* * *

As the battle progressed the onlookers went through various stages of disbelief and or panic. The people watching could feel the battle more than anything, when the clashes would happen there would be large shocks that would shake the ships and seas.

_'I think I can trust this man to defeat Arlong for me! Who would have thought I would meet a regular person, a human that could kill that monster?'_ Nami thought as she held onto the railing of the Baratie for dear life.

_'This is the power of the Grand Line? Who would have thought I was really this far out of my league, he never even had to try with me... I'd feel bad if I didn't actually feel so damned excited'_ Zoro thought as he gained a vicious grin.

_'…'_ Usopp was just drawing a blank. He had gone into mental overload a while back.

Zeff looked over at the young chef, soon to be pirate. "You could do this too, little eggplant, some day. If your ambition and drive is great enough... This it what a man who is willing to give his all for his dream fights like" Zeff said as he put a reassuring hand on Sanji's shoulder. Sanji nodded hesitantly.

_'What kind of monsters are these? They can't really be human can they? I can barely see them moving.'_ Sanji thought as he rubbed his eyes.

When the **Gomu Gomu no Pistol** clashed with Mihawks **Yoru** The wave of Conquerors Haki that was was exuded from the fighters clash washed over the Krieg Pirates, including Don Krieg himself. This caused the rest of the enemy pirates Krieg included to pass out and lapse into a temporary coma. No one seemed to care.

* * *

The clash of willpower dragged on for a moment longer as the wood they stood on buckled and cried under the strain. Shortly though it stopped and the two men jumped back giving each other some space. Mihawk slowly put his sword back it its place on his back.

"Impressive control over your willpower boy. You will go far. I've had enough fun for one day. Shall I give your greetings to Red Hair?" Mihawk asked. The young man deserved that much at least. Luffy allowed his **Gear second** to fade as well as his **Bosushoku Haki.**

"Yeah, tell him I'll be entering Paradise soon and my promise still stands! I'll beat his crew and get to **One Piece** first!" Luffy shouted with a face splitting grin.

Mihawk nodded and turned to Zoro and said "No matter how long it will take, I will await you at my strongest. When you master your true self, when you find your true blades, when you surpass this sword! Come find me in the New World! We will have a real fight and see who is truly the strongest swordsman in the world!" Mihawk had his say and left.

"For Mihawk to say such words to a lowly swordsman of East Blue... These people are going to go far. You chose well Eggplant." Zeff said, more to himself than anyone else. Sanji nodded but then gained a tick mark.

"You chose for me old man!" Sanji shouted, growing his sharp teeth and flaming eyes.

* * *

Luffy and company were eating a feast on the Baratie's tab. Luffy had been bandaged up and Nami was doting over him possibly ripping his sutured wounds open again. Luffy had eaten so much he was like a giant balloon.

"Don't worry about it Nami, I have cool technique for just these kinds of minor wounds. He said as he stood up and concentrated on the food he had gorged on. Causing his body to return to its normal slim look, smoke rose from his deep cut on his shoulder. Luffy reached up and yanked the bandage off showing a minor scar where the wound used to be.

"What the hell was that Captain?" Zoro asked. While the rest had equally curious looks on their faces.

"That was a technique I learned called Life Return. It allows me to use stored energy in my body to gain energy or force my body to heal minor wounds quickly. Comes in real handy after a hard days training let me tell you! Shishishishi" Luffy laughed. Until he was sent crashing to the ground courtesy of a Nami punch to the head.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner moron!? And here I was worried about you!" Nami shouted, her fist smoking from the impact.

* * *

Later that day the crew was getting ready to depart after the ship had been stocked and Sanji had loaded his belongings on board. Sanji was making his way to the boat when he turned around and fell to his knees.

"Thank you! Thank you for everything old man Zeff! I promise I will make you proud! I'll become the best cook on all the seven seas! People will come flocking here to hear all about me and the man who taught me!" Sanji shouted, tears rolling down his face splashing on the deck of the Baratie. Zeff nodded, wiping a tear or two from his eyes himself.

Luffy shouted **"LET"S GO! TO CONAMI ISLANDS!"** causing everyone to cheer, Nami cracked a huge grin as she steered the boat out and towards her home island.

* * *

Hours later everyone was relaxing on the deck of the Going Merry, everyone except Johnny and Yosaku that is. They were pacing back and forth. Obviously tense and nervous. Luffy was growing impatient with their antics.

"What are you two clowns doing? You're gonna wear a trench in the deck!" Luffy shouted. They turned to him.

"But Luffy-aniki! We are headed right into Arlong 'The Saw's territory going to Conami Islands!" Johnny shouted. Yosaku agreed with a panicked nod.

"Yeah Luffy-aniki, Arlong is an ex-member of a Shichibukai's crew! We heard he was kicked out of Jinbei's crew for being too dangerous!" Yosaku shouted. Luffy scoffed.

"If he were as strong as you are saying, then there's no way in hell he would have stuck around in East Blue of all places. My money's on him being a weak coward too afraid of the grand line to go there." Luffy stated as he put his feet up on the table. Only to get kicked in the head for his trouble by Sanji.

"No feet on the table! Don't make me teach you table manners!" Sanji glared at his captain. Luffy rubbed his head.

"Aww man, I'm rubber how do you guys hurt me so bad without Haki!?" Luffy asked. Sanji gained an intrigued look.

"Ahh that's right, I heard you talking about this Haki stuff but I never got a full explanation... So spill it Luffy!" Sanji asked/demanded.

* * *

Several long minutes and a relatively thorough explanation of Haki and it's effects later and Sanji found himself being Zoro's training dummy. The deck was filled with sounds of the blond mans pained groans. Much to the swordsman's great pleasure.

Nami and Usopp were training themselves as well, Usopp would shoot at her with weak lead shots while she was blind folded.

Luffy was training himself, using **Geppou** to fly high above the ship and fire **Rankyaku** blades into the distance, hoping to improve his stamina and strength.

The rest of the day was spent in hard training...

* * *

Around noon the next day, the Straw-Hat's were eating lunch in preparation for landing at Conami Island when a large disturbance in the water appeared off the side of the boat. Luffy could sense a large but weak seaking surfacing next to the boat. The beast (a spotted sea cow king) raised itself till it towered over the Going Merry like a man towers over a puppy. It leered at the food spread out on the table, drooling at the tasty looking morsels. The humans probably didn't look so bad either.

"What are we gonna do!? It's gonna eat us!" Johnny and Yosaku were shouting in full panic mode.

Zoro and Sanji were preparing to attack the beast before it could sink the ship. When Luffy walked between them forcing them to make way. Both men stood down and watched.

Luffy stood in front of the glaring cow. He raised his hand in the direction of the animal. It prepared to counter attack until it felt a wave of fear like nothing it had ever felt when facing the wrath of its current fishman overlord. The beast felt a need to submit to this man like never before, it lowered its head until it was eye level with the small human.

"You are so far from home seaking, are you under Arlongs control?" Luffy asked. The crew plus the bounty hunting friends were shocked when the Sea King nodded it's head heatedly. Luffy placed his hand on the scared beasts head and patted it comfortingly.

"You are free Sea Cow, go back home to the Grand Line, this place isn't for you. Your old master won't be able to hurt you when I'm done with him!" Luffy shouted. The cow king shed tears of joy and actually licked Luffy before it fled East Blue. Luffy turned and seen everyone staring at him.

"Luffy! That was Momo! Arlongs terrible monster! How did you do that?!" Nami asked, genuinely shocked, more so then all the time since Luffy fought Mihawk.

"That's just another part of **Conquerors Haki**, the ability to overpower the will of others. With people it usually just leads to them passing out, but with animals it can be used to force them to submit to your superior will. That was literally nothing Nami!" Luffy said smiling at her, causing her to blush slightly.

* * *

A short time later the crew had hidden the Going Merry in a small hidden cove near a small village that Arlong had already destroyed for someone not being able to pay his ransom. Luffy was... Not pleased to say the least when he seen the village. The crew found themselves in front of a small house with a tangerine groove. Nami kicked the door open and walked in, followed by Luffy and the crew.

Nojiko! I'm home! Oh hello Genzo-san." Nami half shouted half stated calmly. Nojiko a pretty young woman who had blue hair, black eyes, and a... Distracting tattoo across her chest, that continued down her right arm. She was wearing a tight white shirt and blue pants.

Genzo was a older man who wore an old policeman's uniform, his face though was littered with scars from what looked to be torture aimed intentionally to maim and disfigure.

"Hello Nami-san. No treasure this time? Who are those people behind you?" Genzo asked, with Nojiko nodding showing her similar interests. Nami allowed a beautiful happy smile spread across her face. Raising her thumb and pointing at the scrawny guy in the straw hat.

"This guy, he's gonna crush Arlong for me!" She said nearly dancing in joy at the mere thought of Arlongs coming defeat. Genzo and Nojiko seemed to panic at the statement.

"What are you thinking Nami! What about the plan!? How can you possibly risk it all on this kid?" Genzo asked. Nojiko nodding in agreement with Genzo's statement. "Nami, we can't afford to risk everything like this! I mean that guy doesn't look any stronger than Genzo-san here!" Nojiko said. Grabbing her sister by the shoulders and shaking her. Nami lightly slapped her hands off her and gave her a lighthearted glare.

"I've seen this man fight on nearly even grounds with Hawkeyes Mihawk, and knock people out simply by glaring at them! He's not weak!" Nami said, annoyed that her sister and friend would question her new captains strength.

"Awww your gonna make me blush Nami!" Luffy said smiling with his closed. The two Cocoyashi residents looked at him closer but just couldn't see it.

* * *

Arlong Park is a small compound that is on the edge of the island complete with a pool that connects to the ocean and a large Japanese style pagoda house.

Arlong is a large, muscular, light blue saw-shark Fishman whose most distinctive trait is his saw-shaped nose. He has long, black hair with a widow's peak reaching down to his shoulders, under a brown ushanka. He has a fin on his nape, surrounded by his hair, and the gills are located on both the sides of his neck. He also has a unique tattoo on his left pectoral shaped like a blazing sun.

A marine captain named Nezumi, who looked like the love child of a woman and a rat... He actually has whiskers... Approached Arlong to negotiate the monthly bribe that Arlong would pay him for not reporting his activities to his superiors.

"Nezumi, I've been informed that Nami-san has come home from another thieving adventure. She is too close now to her goal of One Hundred Million beri's I want you to go to her house at the Tangerine farm and take her money. I don't care the excuse you use but make sure you get it. I get 80% of it, you get the rest. Kill anyone who tries to stop you, except little Nami of course. If you harm a hair on her head I'll kill you myself. Got it?" Arlong said, as he reclined on his beach chair. Nezumi nodded quickly and ordered his men to follow him.

* * *

Back at Nojiko's house the crew and associates were eating some tangerines and telling stories when Luffy felt a large group approaching the house. Zoro noticed the captains sudden alertness.

"What's going on captain? You sensed something?" Zoro asked. Luffy nodded in the affirmative.

"There is a group of twenty men approaching the house right now. They are weak though." Luffy said. Everyone was listening and looking out the windows.

"It's the marines! What the hell do they want? Shouldn't they be dealing with Arlong?" Sanji asked. Nojiko shook her head.

"No that's Nezumi, Arlongs personal Marine, he is totally in Arlong's pocket!" Nojiko shouted in rage. Luffy raised his hand in a calming gesture.

"I'll deal with this Nojiko, besides you want to see what they were talking about earlier right?" Luffy stated as he walked to the door opening it and seeing a group of Marines walking up to the house.

"What can we do for you marines?" Luffy asked, keeping his tone even. Nezumi walked forward and cleared his throat.

"Yes, I have heard that the "Cat Bugler" Nami lives in this residence. We have reason to believe she has stolen a sizable amount of treasure that belongs to citizens of the world government. It's my duty to make sure it all gets returned." Nezumi said with palpable arrogance. Nami and Nojiko growled with rage. Genzo was angry at the hypocrisy of it all. Luffy glared at the man.

"Why aren't you dealing with Arlong and not wasting your time on a small time thief that only steals from pirates Marine?" Luffy asked. Attempting to keep himself under control. One of the things he hated most in this world was corruption. At least Pirates are honest with themselves and those around them. Real Pirates at least.

"What we do and how we do it is of no concern of a civilian. Step aside and let us search the premises for contraband! Men tear this place apart!" Nezumi shouted. Luffy had heard enough and sent a moderately powerful blast of **Conquerors Haki** at the marines behind Nezumi but avoiding Nezumi completely. Earning shocked gasps from both Nojiko and Genzo. When Nezumi heard no shouts in the affirmative he turned and his complexion became ghost white.

"W-W-What h-happened t-to my Men!?" Nezumi shouted in panic. Luffy grabbed the gun from Nezumi's holster as he told the man what he did. Then he threw the man to the ground in front of Nami, Nojiko, and Genzo.

"Why don't you guys let this marine know how you feel about his performance as a marine?" Luffy suggested.

Nezumi turned and looked at the three and whimpered in fear as they all cracked their knuckles and prepared their personal weapons. Several minutes later and a severely beaten Nezumi later...

"That was simply amazing Luffy-san!" Nojiko said as she walked up to Luffy. Luffy smiled at the compliment.

"Thanks Nojiko, but it's nothing at all really." Luffy said. Nami walked up to them and patted her sister on her shoulder.

"He's right sis! I've seen him do a lot more and you will to soon!" Nami said ecstatically.

"Well I guess it's time to get this show on the road then, you guys ready?" Luffy asked everyone as he grabbed Nezumi and started dragging him off to Arlong Park.

* * *

At Arlong Park.

"Where the hell is that rat! It's been plenty of time, he should have found the gold and get back here. If I find out he stole it all for himself I'll kill him slowly!" Shouted and aggravated and impatient Arlong. One of Arlong's elites, Kurobi. A ray fishman approached Arlong.

"Arlong-san perhaps Nami has betrayed us and attacked Nezumi-san? It was reported that she had several people with her, was it not?" Kurobi suggested. Arlong scoffed.

"Why would she betray us when she is apparently so close? She can't need more than one or two more trips to have all the money..." Arlong reasoned. Kurobi shrugged. He never trusted Nami from the start anyways.

Moments later there was a large explosion as the gate of Arlong Park was destroyed. When the smoke cleared they seen a group if teens with Nami leading them. They were also followed by what seemed to be every villager from Cocoyashi village. Arlong sighed, and glared at Kurobi, who simply smirked at him.

"Guess you were right Kurobi... I will have to show Nami-san the error of her ways now." Arlong said. Luffy stepped forward.

"Which one of you fish bastards is Arlong?!" Luffy shouted. Arlong glared at the young man.

"I'm Arlong, what do you want human?" Arlong answered and asked. Luffy threw Nezumi at Arlongs feet.

"I want you to keep your trash out of Nami and Nojiko's garden!" Luffy said angrily. Arlong looked at the bloody and black and blue human laying at his feet.

"Am I supposed to be scared by the site of my useless subordinate marine being beaten up? I could have done this without even getting up from my chair..." Arlong said. Luffy answered with a solid punch to Arlongs cheek launching him across Arlong Park into the brick retainer wall then straight through it where he proceeded to cut a swath through the hills outside Arlong Park. All the fishmen were shocked and angered by the unprovoked attack. Luffy blasted all the fodder fishmen into blissful unconsciousness so that his men could fight the fishmen without interference.

* * *

Chew, Kurobi, and Hachan were all speechless at the unfortunate turn of events. Arlong as not returned yet and all the backup was gone. Kurobi turned to Hachan.

"Hachi call Momo! We need to take care of these guys quickly!" He shouted. Hachi nodded and ran to the pool and blew into a trumpet. Luffy snickered at what he heard. The villagers were curious as to the reason but did not ask. Some time passed as Arlong returned to the battlefield. _'What the hell did that kid do!? I feel like he gave me a concussion...'_ Arlong thought as he gently shook his head.

"Hachi, what are you doing? Where is Momo?" Chew asked. Arlong shook his head in the negative.

"I don't know Chew, he seems to not be around?" Hachan asked. Luffy stepped forward.

"I can answer that question. He tried to attack us before we landed on this Island. So I tamed him and then sent him back to the Grand Line where he belongs. It was really easy!" Luffy said.

"Zoro, why don't you take the octopus guy, Sanji you take the guy in the gi, and Usopp you take the thin lipped guy." Luffy commanded. Everyone nodded in acceptance, even Usopp. Asked Johnny and Yosaku to borrow their swords, they willingly handed them to him, then he jumped into the fray to attack Hachi. Sanji flew at Kurobi with an extended foot. Usopp shot Chew in the face then bolted out of the park.

Zoro and Hachi were facing off against each other when Hachi suddenly attempted to spit black ink on Zoro **"Zero Visibility: Octopus Hachi Black"** Zoro dodged it completely.

"Why are you trying to spit on me?! Can't I get a real swordsman once in a while? Not one that cheats and uses tricks?" Zoro asked. Hachan looked surprised.

"You want a fair fight, then let me get my swords!" Hachi said. Zoro nodded.

"Get your weapons, I will not attack an unarmed man... er Octopus." Zoro said. Hachi jumped up the side of the building and climbed into a window, coming out shortly with six swords.

"You ready to do this Octopus?" Zoro asked. Hachan nodded.

"You'll never beat me human. Each of my six swords weighs more than 650 pounds! How can you possibly fight that kind of power?" Hachan asked, hoping to intimidate the human. Hachan did not harbor the same deep seeded hatred for Humans that the others in his crew did, so he would avoid having to kill a human if he could.

"The weight on my sword is far heavier than all of those swords combined. You would never understand what rests on this blade." Zoro said as he placed his hand on the handle of **Wado Ichimonji.** Hachan shook his head and charged at Zoro.

"It doesn't matter! I can't just let you guys get away with attacking us!" Hachan shouted as he swung all six blades at Zoro. Zoro however blocked the blades easily. **"Santoryu: ****Sword Wolf Floating!"** Zoro shouted as he forced his body to spin at high speeds causing a localized whirlwind and throwing Hachan back several yards and some minor lacerations across his chest and arms.

"Nice attack human! What's your name?" Hachan asked, it has been a while since he had a good fight.

"Roronoa Zoro is my name, remember it Octopus." Zoro answered. Hachan growled.

"If I am to call you Zoro then you should at least call me by my name Hachan!" Shouted. **"Octopus Foot Miracle Swords"** Hachan lunged at Zoro swinging his swords wildly as Zoro weaved in and out of them with apparent ease.

"You're gonna have to do better than this, Hachan. If you can't you won't even be able to kill my boredom." Zoro said. Hachan charged at Zoro and readied another attack **"****Octopus Pot Stance" **Hachan pointed all his blades directly at Zoro thrusting them forward again Zoro was able to block the attack and return his own in kind. **"Santoyu: Demon Slash!"** Zoro shot forwards scoring a large cut on Hachi's body throwing him into the pool. Zoro sheathed his blades and returned the unnamed ones to Johnny and Yosaku while taking a position against the wall to watch the rest of the fights play out.

* * *

Sanji and Kurobi were glaring at each other.

"Why are you humans helping that witch? Nami lives on betrayal! She plans on betraying you as we fight here I bet." Kurobi said. But that was the wrong thing to say as Sanji was livid at his disrespect towards the woman of his dreams.

"How dare you insult Nami-swan like that!" Sanji shouted as he blitzed towards Kurobi at speeds that surprised the fishman. **"****Shoulder Shot!"** Sanji attempted a overhead kick to the fishmans shoulder and was blocked.

"I'm a level 40 master of Fishman Karate! There is NO way a lowly human like yourself could beat me!" Kurobi shouted, looking down on the human as he does most of the human species.

"You know, I wonder how you guys would taste if I sauteed you with a fine wine for flavor?" Sanji asked, genuinely curious. Kurobi did not like the idea of being sauteed. **"Hundred Tile True Punch"** Launching a hard straight punch at Sanji hitting straight in the chest sending him flying into the wall cracking it.

"Hahaha... That just goes to show you how weak humans really are. One hit and you are down like that." But something seemed off to Kurobi. The blond human was actually lighting a cigarette seemingly unconcerned about his current predicament.

"You're a level 40 master? Then my teacher must have been a level 400 master! That punch was weak!" Sanji shouted then quickly launched into a handstand and performed a spinning kick **"****Côtelette****"** The kick was far too quick and close for Kurobi to dodge and he took it point black and at full strength to the ribs. Sending him flying across the park.

"Uhhh... That hurt" Kurobi mumbled to himself as he climbed hack to his feet spitting some blood. _'I better take this human seriously. He seems strong enough to be a threat, I wonder how strong that one in the straw-hat is if he isn't enve fighting after punching Arlong-san yet.'_ Kurobi thought.

"I'm gonna give you a strong attack right now Human, see how you like it." Kurobi seemed to take a wide stance and seemed to be concentrating on his fists as he prepared his attack. Sanji seeing the type of attack it will be before Kurobi even launches it charges forward. Kurobi grins as he readies the attack. **"Thousand Tile True Punch"** Sanji anticipated the attack because of the preparation he witnessed and he jumped into the extended arm then flew into the air higher, spinning adding momentum to his next attack. **"****Sheep Shot!****"** Sanji came down and laid a heavy boot into Kurobi's back muscle causing the fishman to cry out in agony as he flew into the retaining wall just like his captain earlier.

* * *

Usopp w as running for his life from an angry half blind fishman. He had gotten a few lucky shots with his **"****Tabasco Star****"**. Getting the hot sauce into the eyes of Chew. Chew was firing random balls of water at Usopp as he kept a wide gap between himself and Chew.

_'Just how far can this human run!?'_ Chew thought as he fired a few more blasts of water. _'I have to keep track of my water usage or I will run out!'_ Chew thought. "Come here little human, let me end this for you nice and quick!" Chew shouted at Usopp.

"No thanks! I like living just fine." Usopp returned as he turned off the main road into the woods.

Chew continued to fire balls of water into the woods ripping pieces of the trees off as he did so, but never hitting his intended target. Usopp showing his superior sniping skills would pop out from time to time, a new hiding spot each time and fire a different attack. **"****Kayaku Boshi****" ** shouted and fired a small explosive projectile at Chew hitting him square in the face. The fishman cursed his bad luck. Usopp ran back towards the road making sure to make noise as he laid out some cal-traps behind him. When he heard the Fishman cry out in pain he quickly shot another **"****Tabasco Star!****"** directly into his eyes, further ruining Chew's vision followed by two **"Gunpowder Star"**.

Chew moaned in pain and impotent anger. He could barely see at this point. **Usopp Hammer!** Was the last thing he heard before he fell to blissful unconsciousness as Usopp began to smack him in the head repeatedly with a small hammer he had kept for ship repairs.

Usopp panted and looked down at his defeated foe. Feeling a sense of accomplishment he had never felt before. He rand back to Arlong Park cheering the name of Captain Usopp to anyone that could hear.

* * *

Luffy stepped towards Arlong, Arlong glared at him.

"Well Arlong, it looks like it's finally your turn. ALL of your generals are done. Some worse than others shishishi" Luffy chucked at the fishman's misfortune.

"You think you can beat me human? That punch earlier wasn't bad. I'll give you that but you aren't in my league Human. You know why Fishmen are superior don't you?" Arlong asked and waited for a response.

"Honestly I don't care what makes you think you are superior to me... The facts are this. You are going to get your ass kicked and there isn't a thing you can do about it. So what you need to do is put up or shut up" Luffy said, throwing Arlong off his normal game. Arlong recovered quickly and came at Luffy with a strong right punch which Luffy deftly dodged. He grabbed hold of Arlong's arm and then send a strong punch into Arlongs abdomen causing the man to suck wind. Luffy let go of his head and waited for the man to get his breath back.

* * *

"How the hell is he doing this I mean he's seriously toying with Arlong!" One of the villagers asked. This was quickly seconded and third-ed and so on by the other villagers.

"The Captain is too strong for Arlong, that's how. This fight is going to be boring..." Zoro said as he sat down to take a nap. The villagers were shocked at his apathy and lack of concern for his apparent captain.

"You guys need to relax! This is Monkey D. Luffy! The future Pirate King we are watching fight, enjoy the show, watch him humiliate Arlong! LUFFY! " Nami cheered Luffy on loudly. The villagers started following suit with Nami. Usopp got back and was shocked to see the villagers all chanting Luffy's name.

"What's this about Zoro?" waiting for a response he looks down and finds Zoro sleeping. _'Lazy bastard!'_ Usopp raged in his head. He turned to see Luffy schooling Arlong.

Luffy was weaving in and out of Arlongs teeth fist attacks. Then Arlong throw an attack and Luffy grabbed his arm laughing a heavy knee blow to Arlongs core.

"I don't even have to use my devil fruit on you at this point Arlong. It would be over kill." Luffy said, antagonizing the man further. Arlong was NOT a man that liked to be toyed with. Arlong flung water from his hand in the form of bullets at Luffy but again Luffy simply dodged every projectile.

"What kind of human are you?! I've never seen anyone in the Blues nearly as strong as you! It almost feels like I'm fighting Jinbei or something!" Arlong shouted. He was getting frustrated. He turned and ran into the main building of Arlong Park grabbing his sword **Kiribachi** "Now what are you going to do human!? Think that weak little sword on your waist can stand up against **Kiribachi**? No way it will!" Arlong shouted.

"Why should I draw my sword for someone like you? My sword wasn't given to me to swat flies..." Luffy said, keeping a stoic attitude hoping to enrage the fishman further. Arlong roared and swung the Kiribachi at Luffy who simply whispered **"Bosushoku Haki"** coating his arm in back armor and blocked the sword with his forearm. Causing it to shatter against Luffy's willpower. Arlong stared at the handle of his ex-sword for a moment before something in his mind snapped. His eyes became red and dilated Arlong charged at Luffy with new speed and ferocity.

"This isn't going to cut it! Just getting mad won't be enough Arlong!" Luffy shouted as he bent and weaved through attacks like a piece of paper swaying in the breeze. When the moment felt right he reached out and grabbed Arlongs arm and slammed him into the pavement hard enough to bury his head in the concrete. When Luffy let go Arlong Kicked him in the chest sending him flying back a few yards but otherwise causing no harm. Arlong then jumped into the pool.

_'Ahh he wanted to get to the water and try something else? Well that's ok, there is nothing he has to penetrate my **'Bosushoku: Haki.'**_ Luffy watches as Arlong swam under the water getting distance to gain speed. Arlong and started speeding towards Luffy who was standing near the edge of the water. **"Shark on Darts"** Luffy heard as Arlongs nose breached the surface of the ocean and came flying at Luffy with great speed. Stepped aside as Arlong was about to pass by him and smashed his fist into the back of Arlongs head sinking all of Arlong into a crater in the concrete. When Arlong did not get back up Luffy turned his attention to Arlong Park's main building.

Luffy put his thumb into his mouth, bit down and blew air into his bones. His arm quickly increased in size to the point that it looked like the limb of a giant. **Gear Third!** Luffy then jumped high into the air, maintaining the height with **Geppou** He threw his fist backwards and called out the attack **"Gomu Gomu no Gigant Pistol!"** Sending the attack down and through the main structure of Arlong Park turning it into nothing more then a pile of rubble. Luffy allowed the air to deflate from his body.

"So Nami! Are we Nakama now? You going to map the world with us!?" Luffy asked, giving her a huge smile that split his face from ear to ear. Nami ran to him and engulfed him in a huge hug.

"I knew you would do it! I just knew it! She shouted as she pressed her face into his neck and shed tears of joy to the sound of cheering villagers behind them.


End file.
